SCATTERED
by Thinker
Summary: One month after his defeat, Apocalymon - or what's left of him, anyway - captures the eight original Digidestined only to exile them into other worlds: the result? An unlikely crossover fic the likes of which have never been seen! With different worlds to visit, this genre-hopping tale is filled with adventure, romance, drama, and a few cheap gags for good measure.
1. The Scattering...

**SCATTERED, PART 1**

**"The Scattering"**

* * *

The park was cool in the early September air. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and eight very special children sat in a circle in a private clearing among the trees. These eight children had been chosen to save the world only a month ago, and they had succeeded beyond anything they had ever though possible. They were the Digidestined, heroes to some, but normal kids at heart.

"So, it's been a month," Matt said.

"Sure has," replied Sora.

"Hard to believe that's all it was," Tai said.

On August 1, 1999, the Digidestined were transported from their summer camp to the digital world existing alongside our own. And the strange journeys and adventures they had in that realm may have seemed to take months, but, before the two worlds had their time synchronized, Earth had barely let a few hours slip by.

A month had gone by since they had returned to Earth, leaving the Digiworld, and their friends and protectors, the digimon, behind.

"Just out of curiosity, has anyone else felt . . . I don't know . . . _weird _lately?" asked Kari.

"What do you mean?" asked Izzy.

"I had a tummy ache earlier," TK said. "Does that count?"

They all smiled, knowing full well that wasn't what Kari meant.

"Actually, I've been feeling weird today," said Mimi. "Like something's going to happen or something."

"You mean like anticipation?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Joe asked. "Like when you wake up on your birthday and know you're getting a present or that weird, creepy feeling like-"

"Like what?" Matt asked, wondering why Joe stopped. He glanced over and then saw that Joe wasn't there anymore.

"Uh, Joe?" Tai asked, looking around. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"He just disappeared," said Mimi quietly, frightened. "One minute he's sitting there and the next he just-"

Everyone turned and watched as Mimi suddenly shimmered and faded out of sight like she was no more than a mirage. She too, had vanished.

"Okay," said Tai excitedly, "what the heck is going on around-"

But he had vanished as well. The rest could only gasp as, moments later, they also disappeared like ghosts.

* * *

It was another typical day at Gennai's house. Gennai himself was busy reading up on his ancient texts, eagerly searching for the next major world-shaking prophesy. It was hard to study since he was now taking care of eight digimon as well. Ever since the Digidestined had left, their digimon had needed a home to rest and take stock of their lives. It had only been a month, after all, since the children had returned home and the digimon weren't sure how to handle life without the ones they had, technically, been created for.

Agumon and Biyomon were playing soccer in the yard, something that had rubbed off on them from Tai and Sora. Palmon and Gatomon were on the roof, getting a little sun. Gomamon was going for a swim in Gennai's koi pond, which he wasn't supposed to do, because, as Gennai said, "You keep scaring all my fish with that splashing around!" Tentomon was getting some much needed exercise by flying around the area, hoping to stretch his wings.

That left Gabumon and Patamon, who were currently having a discussion through the bathroom door.

"Patamon, what's taking so long?" Gabumon whined. "I've really got to go!"

"I'm sorry, but it's hard to use this thing!" Patamon squealed from behind the door.

"What's so hard about it?" Gabumon asked, getting more uncomfortable by the second.

"As small as I am, I have to balance on the seat," Patamon explained. "And it isn't easy!"

Gabumon waited a minute more, then, growling, said, "Okay, that's it! Open up or I'll break down this door!" There was no response. "Okay, I warned you!" Gabumon charged the door and it flew open to reveal . . . nothing. There was no one there.

"Patamon?" Gabumon asked. "Yoo-hoo . . . Patamon, where did you go?" There was no way out of the bathroom except . . . Gabumon's eyes went wide.

"Gennai!" Gabumon shouted. "Come quick and bring a plunger! Patamon flushed himself down the toilet!" But even as he finished the sentence, he suddenly shimmered and disappeared from sight.

A second later, Gennai walked in, a tired look on his face, carrying a plunger. He looked around and, when he didn't see Gabumon or Patamon, he said, "Oh, great. He jumped in after him. I'm getting too old to do any plumbing!"

He was completely oblivious to the calls of the other digimon outside, who were panicking as their companions, and then themselves, vanished while Gennai worked furiously with the plunger in the toilet bowl.

* * *

At first, there was darkness. Then, slowly, light filled his vision once again.

Tai looked around and saw his friends were all standing, somewhat bewildered, all around him. No one looked hurt, but all looked afraid.

"Hey, where are we?" TK asked of his brother.

"Beats me," said Matt.

"Any theories, Izzy?" Joe asked eagerly.

"Oh suuure, let me just get out my 'magical theory eight ball' and see," Izzy groaned sarcastically. "What am I, some 'theory machine' that you can just pop a quarter into and hope that you'll get an explanation that will put everything into perspective?"

Joe whimpered.

"Wow, Izzy," said Sora, joking. "You've been working on your tough guy attitude, lately."

Izzy smiled, then apologized to Joe and said he had no theories as of yet.

Just then, odd shapes began to form in front of each of them. They stared in wonderment as they slowly took on distinct features and solid forms. They began to understand what they were even before they finally came into being.

"Agumon!" Tai shouted, affectionately tackling his newly transported digimon.

"Tai- oof!" Agumon said as he tumbled to the ground.

"Palmon!" Mimi said, scooping up her plant-like friend.

"Mimi!" Palmon exclaimed happily.

"Gabumon!" said Matt, giving his furred friend a huge bear hug.

"Matt!" said a very surprised Gabumon. "Please, don't hug me!" he groaned.

"What's the matter?" asked Matt, still clutching him. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Of course," grunted Gabumon, "but I was on my way to the bathroom when I was brought here, so squeezing me right now is probably a bad idea!" Matt, understanding, immediately let his friend go and settled for a paw shake as the others met up with their digimon.

"What are you doing here?" Tentomon asked Izzy.

"Actually, we weren't sure about that ourselves," Izzy admitted. "What about you guys?"

All the digimon shrugged their shoulders, or what passed for them, and said they didn't know either. That's when a voice suddenly said, "I will tell you where you are, you foolish mortals!"

Suddenly, more lights went on in the room to reveal that it was, in fact, a stone dungeon with debris littering the floor. On the far wall was a huge assortment of machinery. There were panels, metal boxes, levers and buttons, switches, a tangled mass of sparking loose wires, and amid it all was-

"The pedestal!" cried Izzy. "That's the same pedestal we used in Myotismon's castle to get home last time! We must be in the ruins of his dungeon! Look!"

The whole group looked where he was pointing and saw the huge steel doors embedded in the wall. This was indeed where they had crossed over from one dimension to the other.

"Correct, you miserable little computer geek!" shouted the voice again. It was harsh and filled with rage, cruelty, and evil. It seemed familiar, but there was something odd about how high the pitch of the voice was, how _small _it was.

The group looked up to see a cube with 2' x 2' sides. It was all black and it levitated slowly, coming down to hover just above the ground amid the machinery.

"Hey, this feels a little familiar," Tai said.

"Yeah, do we know you?" asked Sora, trying to sound polite and non-confrontational.

"You should, you doomed fools!" cackled a voice from within the cube. "Perhaps this will help you out. The last time we met, I told you, 'You don't have the power to end my sadness!'"

The Digidestined and the digimon, in instant recognition, all shouted the answer in surprise at the same time: "Apocalymon!"

"Wrong, you nose-wiping maggots on the floor of a beauty salon!" said the voice.

"Nose-wiping _what?" _Tai asked Agumon, under his breath, raising an eyebrow.

"I used to be Apocalymon, you puppies!" he said. "I am what's left of him after having my claws smashed, my body simultaneously burnt and frozen, and then blown up in a mostly contained cataclysmic explosion! I am the rookie level of Apocalymon! I am . . ."

There was a muffled pause as the top panel of the cube puffed out slightly. "Er, I am..." The voice grunted a few times. "Hold on, the damn lid is stuck... One, two, three..."

The lid finally popped open and, looking something like a cross between Batman and a Jack in the Box, the figure arose into view. "I am..." he repeated, posing dramatically, "_...Mini Apocalymon!"_

The children and digimon alike stared at the creature before them. He had the same evil, yellow eyes, the same tattered cape, and the same long, deadly-looking claws. However, his cape was fastened with a safety pin and the leathery covering that he wore on his body that used to be held together with mean-looking zippers was now held together with duct tape.

"Cower in fear!" said the tiny creature.

The children and digimon continued to stare at him for a moment. Then, they all began to smile. Then snicker. Then, finally, they began to laugh uncontrollably, clutching their bellies while tears rolled down their cheeks.

"What? What?" Mini Apocalymon asked, insulted. "Do you take me for a fool? Do you dare to insult the mighty Mini Apocalymon?"

"Hey guys, check this out: I shall call him 'Mini Me,'" Joe said, doing his best Dr. Evil impression, which got everybody laughing again.

"No offense," said Tai, still laughing along with the others, "but what are you thinking? One rookie against eight? Besides, any one of our digimon could digivolve and kick your sorry butt!"

Mini Apocalymon glared at the Digidestined and their digimon as they rolled on the floor with laughter. He hated laughter. The very sound blared in his ears and set his nerves on edge. However, he suddenly began to chuckle himself, in spite of his humiliation.

"You weak, pathetic fools," he said. "You think it's that easy? Do you think I brought you here without a plan? That I would merely fight you? I have brought you here using great power, which I will now use to be rid of you once and for all!"

The group's laughter had died down, for the most part, and their attention was once again on the small digimon who, at one time, had threatened their two worlds with complete destruction. Mini Apocalymon reached over to a lever on a panel and threw the switch. Suddenly, a circular portal of light opened up under the group's feet and they tumbled down into the space below.

"Tai, what's happening?" Kari cried as she fell.

"Matt!" called TK.

"TK!" called Matt.

"A bathroom!" Gabumon called out to no one in particular. "If we survive, please let us land somewhere near a bathroom!"

"You fools!" thundered Mini Apocalymon's voice from every direction as they fell further and further into the void of swirling energy around them. "Actually, maybe I'm over-using the word 'fools' here- well, whatever, let's go with it. As I was saying: since I cannot destroy you, I will simply rid myself of you! Using the power of the inter-dimensional pedestal, I can create a warp leading to an infinite number of worlds! I will use this warp to scatter you all to separate fates on a million different worlds in a million different places in time! Scatter you like dust to the wind!"

As Mini Apocalymon began to laugh, Tai called out, "Quick! Everyone grab onto the ones nearest you, so we can stay together no matter where we end up!"

All the Digidestined, already in close proximity to their digimon, grabbed a hold of them. Then they all reached out for the hands of their friends. Matt managed to reach TK, while Tai caught hold of Sora's foot. Mimi, holding Palmon, was snagged by Gatomon, who was holding onto Kari with her other paw. Joe and Izzy, unfortunately, were too far away from the others to reach them as they fell down, further and further, finally into a swirling vortex that sent them all hurtling toward unknown worlds...

And unknown fates.

* * *

Izzy found himself standing in a grassy area, surrounded by trees, birdsong, and the sound of children playing. Next to him was the bug-like Tentomon. Both were still sweating, still feeling their hearts beating wildly from their harrowing encounter with "the warp."

"Where are we, Izzy?" asked Tentomon quietly.

"I'm not sure,"said Izzy, frowning, "but this place looks familiar." He paused and looked at the trees around him, noticing the type of tree each one was and in what location they were in. This place was not merely familiar, but he thought he recognized it.

"This looks like the park that we used to meet in while fighting Myotismon," Izzy said, "and where the other Digidestined and I were taken from only a short time ago!"

"I think you're right!" Tentomon exclaimed, also recognizing the place. "But Mini Apocalymon said we'd be sent to a different universe. Do you think we're still in Tokyo?"

Izzy considered a moment, then told Tentomon to stay put for a few minutes while he went off. Tentomon did as he was told and when Izzy returned, he had a hat and a jacket for him to wear.

"I can't believe I've got to go back to wearing disguises," Tentomon said, disgusted as he pulled the clothes on.

"I wouldn't have paid that little kid everything I had for his jacket if I didn't think it was necessary," Izzy said. The two of them walked out of the clearing and made their way out of the park.

"Oh my!" Tentomon said. "I forgot how _big _Tokyo is!"

The two of them craned their necks to see the huge buildings that towered over them. It looked to be about midmorning by the location of the sun and the streets were packed with heavy traffic. Izzy couldn't help but notice that something about the cars seemed _off._

"This certainly looks like my world," said Izzy, "but something's missing. Something's just not right." He paused a moment, lost in thought as Tentomon stared up at him inquisitively. Then, Izzy's face lit up as he realized what he needed to do.

He moved and Tentomon followed him. Izzy came upon a newspaper dispenser and bought a copy. He was staring intently at the date on the first page and for a long time he said nothing. Tentomon waited for him to say something, but Izzy only gaped at the date, as if in shock. Finally, in a hushed voice, he said, "Tentomon... this is Tokyo, but it's not the same time as when I left. It's 1989! We're ten years in the past and... and..."

Tentomon waited for him to finish, but an odd look came into his eyes as he trailed off. "Izzy?" Tentomon asked. "What's the matter?"

"Today is," Izzy said, almost laughing, "a very special day." He gulped, then looked at his partner with urgency. "We have to go now! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

* * *

Tai opened his eyes to see the orange sky above him. He sat up and found himself on a beach, only a few feet from the ocean. The sun was setting in the distance. Behind him was thick, green jungle. And to his side, still lying on the ground, was Sora.

"Sora?" Tai asked. "Are you okay?"

Sora sat up as well, and groaned. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a cramp in my back from lying like that." She rubbed her back, then said, her voice tense, "Wait a minute. Where are our digimon? Where are Biyo and Agumon?"

Tai wasn't sure and he was also about to panic when he heard Agumon's high voice say, "We're over here, guys."

Tai and Sora turned to see Agumon and Biyomon standing by a large, wooden sign. "You guys were still asleep, so we thought we'd find some food," said Biyomon. "We didn't find any, but we think we know where we are."

Tai came over, Sora right behind him, and read the sign, although he couldn't understand its meaning: "Welcome to Jurassic Park: Where Dinosaurs Rule Again!"

"Hey, I like this place already!" Agumon said, liking the part about dinosaurs ruling.

"Hmm, sounds like a theme park," Tai said. "You think Mini Apocalymon sent us to some part of Disneyworld by mistake?"

That's when they heard something rustling in the bushes.

* * *

Mimi and Kari were surrounded by flowers and very small houses. The sky was blue, the air was clean, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Still, the fact that no one was around was just a little bit eerie. They weren't sure if this village was abandoned or if everyone was off at a community activity or if everyone was just inside their houses.

Watching them.

"Do you know this place Kari?" Gatomon asked, stepping around her.

"No," said Kari. "What about you Mimi?"

"No, but it sure is cute!" she said brightly, admiring the cute houses and quaint buildings and odd, curving roads.

"I like the gardens!" said Palmon, also cheery, also completely unconcerned. "Whoever these people are, they can't be too bad if they're this good to plants!" She was right about the care taken for the plants. The flowers surrounding them were huge and they formed wide beds that brightly colored the whole area.

"Look!" exclaimed Gatomon, pointing up with one clawed finger. The four of them looked up and saw a glowing pink ball. It was slowly descending to the ground and it was growing larger. When it touched the ground, it flashed and in its place stood a beautiful, smiling woman with a crown and a wand. She was wearing more pink than Mimi.

"Are you good witches or bad witches?" she asked them all.

"Hey, let me ask _you_ about that dress before you go asking _us _dumb questions," Mimi said, putting her hands on her hips.

* * *

"Hello?" Joe asked. "Is anybody there?"

He and Gomamon were getting nervous. They were on an island, that much was obvious. Sea breezes swept over the island, which was covered with a pine forest and had a rocky peak at the far end of it. However, there were a lot of things about this island that just didn't make any sense. Things that seemed incredibly out of place.

"Okay, let's take stock of the weird things we've seen here," Joe said, adjusting his glasses. "We've seen a shack, a room with generators, a sunken ship, a giant gear-"

"At least it's not one of Devimon's," said Gomamon helpfully.

"We _think," _Joe said, taking nothing for granted. "Anyway, it's also got an observatory, a big clock, a library, and, last but definitely not least, a **rocket ship."**

Gomamon had to admit. It didn't make much sense. This place had obviously been lived on and settled, although now it looked less like a settlement and more like modern art or a museum. It would be pretty weird if these things just grew right out of the ground, and he was fairly certain that wasn't the case.

"Well, let's see if we can find somebody," said Gomamon.

"We've searched the whole island and didn't see anybody anywhere," Joe said. "With our luck, they all died of some horrible disease or maybe weird monsters attacked, or-"

"Joe, Joe, take a Valium!" said Gomamon.

"You're right," said Joe. "You're right. There's probably a very good reason why no one's here. All we have to do is relax."

Joe and Gomamon took a deep breath in front of the library.

"Greetings!"

Joe and Gomamon yelled and jumped a few feet in the air.

They whirled around and saw an aging, bearded man dressed in a white tunic. "As I was saying," he said in a raspy voice, "hello and welcome to the island of Myst."

* * *

"I'm cold, Matt," TK said, shivering.

"Yeah, me too," Matt said.

"Me three," Patomon chimed in. The three of them were standing in a few inches of snow. It was a cold day and they were standing by the side of the road. It was a black paved road. Off in the distance were snow-covered pine trees.

"Where's Gabumon?" TK asked.

"I don't know," Matt said. "When I came to, he was gone. I saw those tracks leading off towards the forest, so we know he came with us, but I'm not sure why he left."

"I had to use the little digimon's room," Gabumon said, coming back to them. "And since we were near those pine trees, I figured now was as good a time as any!"

"Gabumon!" Matt said happily, looking every bit as relieved as his partner.

"Sorry, but after all that laughing and falling through that warp thing, I thought I was going to explode!"

They had to smile, but they still didn't know what to do.

"Well, what do we do now?" Patamon asked, flying up to perch on TK's head.

"Maybe we could hitchhike to the nearest town," TK suggested.

"TK, that's dangerous," Matt said. "And besides, who would pick up two kids with two strange creatures they've never even seen before?"

"Bus," Gabumon answered.

"Bus? Bus who?" Matt asked, confused.

"The school bus that's coming this way and slowing down," Gabumon replied.

Matt, TK, Patamon, and Gabumon watched as the bus pulled up and the door slid open with a _whoosh._

A very ugly and extremely foul-tempered woman was driving the bus. She looked at them a moment and they stared back at her. "Get on the bus, kids!" she shouted.

"Actually, we don't go to school in town," Matt said. "But could you-"

"Sit down and SHUT UP!" the bus driver yelled. The four of them asked no questions, but merely got on the bus silently. The bus began to move down the road. Matt barely caught a glimpse of a crudely painted wooden sign as they passed it on their way into town.

Here's what it said: "SOUTH PARK. POPULATION: 1,666."

**To be ontinued . . .**


	2. Closing Time

_(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to all reviewers. This note is just to say that each character or group of characters will get their own stories in one big chunk at a time. In other words, I won't be switching around between plot lines because it's too hard and, hey, it's not true to "Digimon's" style anyway. Once again, enjoy. _**_-Thinker_**_)_

**SCATTERED, Part 2:**

**"Closing Time"**

* * *

_Closing time__  
__Open all the doors and let you out into the world _

_Closing time__  
__Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl _

_Closing time__  
__One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer _

_Closing time__  
__You don't have to go home but you can't stay here _

_I know who I want to take me home__  
__I know who I want to take me home_  
_I know who I want to take me home _

_Closing time__  
__Time for you to go out to the places you will be from _

_Closing time__  
__This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come _

_So gather up your jackets move it to the exits__  
__I hope you have found a friend _

_Closing time__  
__Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end _

_-From "Closing Time," by Semisonic_

* * *

Tentomon hurried to catch up with his partner, but he wasn't having much luck. He wasn't used to walking to places. He was more equipped to fly, but, of course that was not an option. The disguise he wore was hot, uncomfortable, and it restricted his movement. He couldn't wait to get out of this crowd of people mingling downtown and to someplace where he could stretch his wings.

Izzy, however, seemed too excited to notice his companion's consternation. He was still grinning madly, clutching the newspaper he'd bought as he rushed ahead, leaving Tentomon behind. He'd said it was a special day, but he had no idea what he meant by "special." He wasn't concerned at all with being in a different time, away from his friends, so something told Tentomon that whatever was going on was of personal importance to Izzy.

"Izzy! Stop!" Tentomon yelled, out of breath. "I can't keep up! Wait!" He'd lost track of Izzy and he was now surrounded by extremely tall adults who seemed not to notice that they were almost stepping on him. Tentomon didn't want to do it if he didn't have to, but if Izzy got too much further ahead they might lose each other, so he might have to take off the disguise and take to the air.

Tentomon wondered how they'd explain that, but Izzy could probably just tell everyone that he was an African dung beetle or something. "I hope they believe that one," said Tentomon as he prepared to take off.

Just then, Izzy reappeared, working his way back through the crowd.

"What's wrong?" Izzy asked impatiently.

"What do you mean, 'What's wrong?'" Tentomon asked, annoyed. "You act like you're trying to lose me! I can't keep up!"

Izzy softened. "I'm sorry, Tentomon," he said, "but it's imperative that we get to the subway to catch the next train and we can't do it if we keep moving slowly."

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Tentomon exclaimed. Izzy, thought about that for a moment and then suddenly picked up Tentomon and put him on his back.

"If anyone asks, you're my little brother and I'm giving you a piggy back ride," Izzy grunted, winking at him. He ran the rest of the distance to the subway, carrying Tentomon and ignoring how heavy he was.

* * *

The subway car was mostly empty. It was not a particularly busy time of day, which was lucky because it gave Izzy the chance to talk a little more without being overheard.

"So, tell me," began Tentomon, "what's so 'special' about today?"

Izzy grinned again, looking down at Tentomon seated next to him. "First of all, this is just amazing to watch history in action," he said, avoiding answering the question directly.

"Oh, really?" Tentomon asked, mildly interested.

"Yes," Izzy said. "In a year, the Cold War will end. Two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, are aiming missiles at each other that could make the world unlivable if too many go off. This year, the Soviet Union is starting to crack under the pressure and by next year it will cease to be a superpower. The threat of global annihilation will fade into the background. In the U.S., incidentally, a man named George Bush is the president. Some time in the near future, he will travel here to meet with the Premier of Japan and vomit at a dinner with him."

"Oh, that's great," Tentomon said sarcastically. "Two countries we aren't even in stop fighting and the leader of one of them pukes on one of this country's leaders. Fascinating."

"Sorry," Izzy said. "I thought you'd appreciate the history lesson. However, here's something you might find more intriguing."

"What?" asked Tentomon.

"This computer," Izzy said, gesturing towards the trusty laptop he carried on his back, "is currently the most powerful computer in the world."

"Wow," said Tentomon. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Izzy said proudly. "It's faster, it can take more data, and it's even smaller than the most advanced computers in the world right now. The internet is in its infancy. Things like e-mail and the like are almost non-existent, and certainly aren't used by the majority of the public."

"Yes, I have to admit, that _is _kind of impressive," Tentomon said, "but you still haven't told me why this day is so special to _you."_

Izzy gave him a knowing smile. "It's a surprise," he said. "I think you'll enjoy this."

* * *

They had entered the hospital only a moment ago and Tentomon was getting nervous. Hospitals made him uneasy and he knew that they did the same for Izzy. Why he wanted to come here was a complete mystery to Tentomon. In any case, Izzy told him to wait a minute while he spoke with the woman at the front desk.

He came back quickly and then guided him to an elevator and they rode it up a few floors. They began to walk down the hallway and Izzy seemed to be just shaking with excitement. After walking about a hundred yards, Izzy stopped and turned to his befuddled partner.

"Okay, here's why today is special," Izzy said, unfolding the newspaper and holding it up to Tentomon. "Read today's date," he said.

Tentomon obeyed and read the date at the top of the paper. "March 23, 1989," Tentomon read. "So?"

"So, March 23 is my birthday. _Today _is my birthday!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Hey, congratulations!" Tentomon said. "So, how old does this make you now? Eleven?"

"No, Tentomon," Izzy said, laughing. "I mean today is my actual _birthday. _Today is the exact day that I was born! In this time, I am only one hour old!"

Tentomon staggered back. "Wow! Today? Really? You were born today?"

"Keep your voice down," Izzy said. "But, yes, I'm sure of it. In fact," he said, pointing down the hall, "I'm in that nursery right over there. Let's take a look shall we?"

Tentomon was indeed impressed. This wasn't just history, this was _Izzy's _history, the beginning of his life. He understood why he wanted to see it so much. If given the opportunity, Tentomon would take it as well.

Izzy and Tentomon walked over to the glass window and saw behind it a large group of babies in cradles. Tentomon had seen very few humans this young and he was a bit overwhelmed. He searched around for Izzy and noticed that each of the cradles had a name on it. He was searching for one when Izzy whispered, "There."

He looked where Izzy was pointing. On the cradle was printed the full name: "Izumi, Koushiro." It was Izzy's full name.

The baby was sleeping quietly. He had a shock of hair and, while it was a little bit lighter, it still had the same brownish red tint to it that was so characteristic of Izzy. He was surprisingly large compared to the other babies and even though he really bore no particular resemblance to the Izzy that Tentomon knew, he recognized him instantly, somehow knowing that they were one and the same.

"Izzy?" asked Tentomon quietly, looking up at him.

Izzy was peering through the glass, one gloved hand pressed against it. He was laughing softly and Tentomon noticed with some surprise that he had tears streaming down his face. He was saying something quietly and Tentomon leaned over to hear what it was. As he leaned in, he heard Izzy saying, over and over again, "That's me. That... that's _me..._"

"Mr. Izumi?" said a nurse behind them.

Izzy whirled around at the mention of his name and saw a nurse talking to a tall man with glasses pushing a tired-looking woman in a wheelchair.

"I'll get him now," said the nurse, who then entered the nursery and, to both Izzy and Tentomon's surprise, picked up the baby Koushiro and brought him out to the couple she'd just been talking to.

"Here's your baby, Mr. and Mrs. Izumi," said the nurse, handing the baby to the woman in the wheelchair.

Izzy watched openmouthed as the woman and the man stared down at the wide-eyed baby in her arms. "Hi, little guy," the man said.

"My Koushiro," said the woman, smiling. "My baby."

Izzy's look of joy was now replaced with one of amazement.

"My parents,"said Izzy. "They're my biological parents."

Tentomon also stood in amazement as they watched the couple a mere twenty-five feet away. He was well aware of Izzy's situation. His parents died in a car crash only a few months after his birth, leaving him an orphan. He had been adopted by his father's cousin of the same last name and he and his wife had been the only parents he'd ever known.

A tear formed in Izzy's eye as he watched the family he'd never had a chance to know. "My parents," Izzy said again, his breath coming out in spastic bursts.

"Well, I guess now we know where you got your hair from," Tentomon whispered quietly. It was true. Izzy's father had brown hair while his mother's was a startlingly bright red.

"I've never even seen them like this before," Izzy said. "I only saw pictures. I never saw them with me and I can't remember what they looked like."

Suddenly, Izzy's eyes grew wide. "Tentomon, they're alive and I'm here with full knowledge of the future," said Izzy excitedly. "Do you know what this means?"

"No, what?" Tentomon asked.

"I... I can warn them," he said, a strange smile appearing on his face. "I can tell them exactly when the accident will happen and where. I can change the future. I can save them." He turned to his partner, his eyes full of tears as he smiled in joy. "Tentomon, I can save them!"

Tentomon looked down and twisted himself uncomfortably. Izzy noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?"

Tentomon looked up at him tentatively and said, "I don't think you should."

Izzy looked shocked. "What?" he said in disbelief. "Why not?"

"Well, think about how it would affect your own future," Tentomon said. "If you prevent the accident, think about how that would affect your relationship with your adopted parents. They wouldn't be the ones who raised you. You might turn out differently and your relationship with them would become something else entirely."

Izzy took a step back and a troubled look took hold of his features. "But... they would still be my relatives. I would still know them. And, after all, I might be the way I am because of genes, not just how I was raised," he reasoned.

"But how would that affect your relationship with me?" Tentomon asked desperately. "You saw that fight at Heighton View Terrace all those years ago because your adopted parents lived there. If you didn't live with them, the beings in the Digiworld would never have discovered you, would never have made you one of the Digidestined, would never have taken the samples from you that helped to create me! Without you, there would be no _me!" _Tentomon exclaimed.

Izzy was torn. He looked over to his parents and his day-old self and then back to Tentomon. "You're saying,"Izzy said, tears welling up in his eyes once more, "that I can't save them? That I can see them, hear them, talk to them... but I can't do anything to save their lives? I have to let them die?" Anger was now in his eyes. He clenched his fists. "Why? Why can't I save them?"

Tentomon looked up at him, tears in his enormous green eyes as well. "It's not meant to be," he said.

At first, Izzy only stood there. Then, his knees went weak and he collapsed onto Tentomon, sobbing openly. Tentomon patted him on the back with one clawed hand and comforted him as he wept. He kept a careful eye on the newly formed Izumi family who, in its own joy, was oblivious to the boy who was coping with his own private pain.

"You know, Izzy," said Tentomon. "Just because you can't warn them doesn't mean you can't talk to them."

Izzy stopped crying and stood. He looked at Tentomon inquisitively.

"Why don't you say something to them? Say goodbye in your own private way," Tentomon said.

Izzy stared at him for a moment, then smiled weakly and nodded. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and walked toward his family.

"Hello," said Izzy quietly. The Izumis looked up to see a boy in an orange shirt with dark khaki shorts and yellow gloves. After greeting them, he pulled off his gloves and put them in his pockets.

"I hope I don't seem too forward when I say this," Izzy said, "but I just wanted to say..."

The boy choked for a moment and looked down. The Izumis watched the boy with interest. Something inside them, something they barely understood, told them that this was something significant, something _important._

"I just wanted to say that, just by looking at you, I can tell that your son," Izzy said, suddenly placing his bare hands on theirs, "will make you very proud of him."

The couple looked at him for a moment, confused, then they both smiled and took hold of his hands, placing them on their newborn son.

"I'm sure he will," said Izzy's father.

"Thank you for saying so, young man," said his mother.

Izzy nodded, smiling brightly. Then, without another word, he turned and left them to their happiness.

"Are you all right, Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"Yes," said Izzy, laughing softly. "I am now."

* * *

As they prepared to re-enter the elevator, an intercom spoke: "Paging Dr. Kido. Paging, Dr. Shin Kido. You're wanted in Pre-op, Dr. Kido."

Izzy stopped and looked to the intercom.

"Kido," he said, repeating the name, a look of sudden recognition on his face. "It must be-"

"-Joe's father!" finished Tentomon, also recognizing Joe's last name. Both knew from their discussions with Joe that this was the hospital that Joe's father worked at and that Joe's brother Shin ("Jim" as he preferred to be called) was named after him.

"If he's in pre-op," Izzy reasoned, "then he'll be in surgery for hours. And that means his office will be vacant as well!"

Tentomon followed Izzy as he asked a few questions and eventually they were able to locate Dr. Kido's office. Finding the door unlocked, Izzy and Tentomon entered it and then locked the door behind them.

"Okay, we're in!" said Tentomon excitedly. "Now, tell me _why _have we snuck into a doctor's office, exactly?"

"It's a way I can access a phone line," Izzy said, "and if I can do that, I can get online."

"Isn't this a bad time to forward a dumb chain letter?" Tentomon joked.

"I believe I can contact someone who may be able to help us find our friends and get back home," Izzy said.

"Who?" Tentomon asked, intrigued.

"Gennai," said Izzy, smiling.

* * *

"I've made the connection," Izzy said. "Let's hope the Gennai in this time has Internet access as well."

"We've got a bigger problem," said Tentomon. "The Gennai we're trying to contact doesn't even know us. He's still with that group that built the digivices."

"Let's just hope he's friendly," said Izzy. He typed in a few more commands and the screen on his laptop changed to static. Izzy put his headphones on and began to speak into the receiver.

"Attention. If anyone can hear me, this is extremely urgent. I repeat: Urgent. Please respond." Izzy sounded official to Tentomon. He hoped it would work. He sounded very convincing.

At first, there was nothing, only static. Then, presently, the static began to clear and the face of a young man appeared on the screen.

"I read you," said the young man. "Who are you and what is your problem?"

"Could you please identify yourself?" Izzy said, ignoring both questions.

"My name is Gennai," said the man, causing both Izzy and Tentomon to gasp in momentary surprise. "Now please state your identity. I can't really see you and I would rather not give any more information than necessary to someone I don't know."

"I'm afraid that my situation won't allow me to say who I am," said Izzy, hoping that alone didn't make Gennai sever the connection. "However, I can prove that I am a friend."

"Oh really?" said Gennai.

"Yes," said Izzy. "I know that you are right now part of a clandestine group that is monitoring and balancing the forces of light and darkness in the Digiworld. I also know that the forces of darkness are beginning to become unbalanced and that you are looking for ways to combat it."

The young Gennai squinted carefully at Izzy, trying to discern his features. "How do you know all this?" he asked. "How could you possibly know about us and our purposes?"

"I'm sorry, but you have to trust me on just my word," said Izzy. "I know you've constructed a pedestal and gateway that could possibly be used to transport to other worlds, including the human one. I need any and all information on how it works. I can download it onto my computer."

"Well, I've got information on how it works, but I don't have any of the access codes and I must warn you, that information will take days to download!"

"Not with the computer I've got," Izzy said, smiling. "I can get it done in twenty minutes." Even Tentomon had to laugh when he saw the look on the young Gennai's face.

* * *

"So, what did you think of the young Gennai?" asked Tentomon after the download was complete and they'd bid their farewell.

"It was odd," said Izzy. "He must not have picked up that strange sense of humor he has yet."

After an interminable amount of typing, he turned the computer to Tentomon.

"Okay, I've got the solution to our problem," said Izzy.

"Great!" said Tentomon happily. "Explain it to me!"

"You might not understand," Izzy warned.

"Try me," Tentomon said.

"Okay, if you say so," Izzy said. "The pedestal can create a large, but finite number of gateways to different worlds. Since there is a limited number of possible places our friends could have gone, I can check them all to see if that's where they're located. Using previous data on my laptop, I can track the exact frequency of each one of the digivices and thus locate them no matter where they are. Knowing where they are, I can send both an audio message and a program to their digivices using the projecting power of the pedestal in the current Digiworld. However, due to the odd variations in the pedestal's mechanism, the message will probably be stalled from anywhere to a couple of hours to a few days. Once the program is in the digivices, they need only to be brought within close range of a computer to transport their users back to their point of origin. Did you get all that?"

"No," said Tentomon.

"Okay..." Izzy said, simplifying it. "I'm sending them a message that will probably be delayed until a little bit after they arrive, so they won't get it the instant they arrive in whatever world they're in. Once I contact them, I tell them that they need to get close to a computer with their partners to return home."

"Brilliant!" said Tentomon.

"Thank you," said Izzy.

After some more typing, Izzy took on a troubled look and turned to Tentomon.

"Do you believe it's fair?" said Izzy. "Do you believe it's fair that I had the opportunity to save my parents and I couldn't take advantage of it?"

Tentomon came over to him and put his claw on Izzy's shoulder. "I think," Tentomon began, "that you got the chance to meet the parents you never knew and tell them that you'll make them proud. How many other kids in your position get to do that?"

Izzy smiled. "Thanks, Tentomon," he said simply. He paused and then said, "There's one part of my plan I forgot to mention, by the way."

"Really, what's that?" Tentomon asked.

"The paths back to the present Digiworld we came from are intertwined," said Izzy. "That means we all have to get back together. If even one of us can't get to a computer or if even one of us fails to survive, then none of us are going home again."

**To Be Continued . . .**

_(Note: For the next few chapters, the plotlines are mostly self-contained. You can skip a chapter if you like and be none the worse. As always, please read, leave a review, and subscribe if you like!)_


	3. New Kids In Town

**SCATTERED, Part 3**

**"New Kids in Town"**

The door to the bus hissed as it opened and Matt, TK, Patamon, and Gabumon all stepped off the bus and into the chilly air.

"Where are we, Matt?" asked TK.

"The sign we passed said it's called South Park," said Matt. "From what I can tell, we're in Colorado, in the United States."

"Whoa!" TK exclaimed. "We're in America?"

"Looks like it," said Matt. He looked at the scene before them. They were in front of a smallish yellow building with a sign on the front that said "South Park Elementary School." He noticed the playground and saw that it was filled with children playing, all of whom were much smaller than he was. However, they weren't smaller than TK.

"TK," Matt said. "I'm never going to be able to pass for a student here. But you might. You look like you're about their age. I'll tell you what: Gabumon and I will go have a look around town while you and Patamon stay here and talk to the other kids."

"No, Matt," TK protested. "I want to go with you guys!"

"Me too!" said Patamon.

"Listen," said Matt, "if you stay here, you'll be more likely to learn about how to act, how we can fit in here, and maybe even figure out how we can get home. I'll bet these kids are more talkative than the adults are. Your job is just as important."

TK thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. What do I tell them about Patamon?" he asked.

"Say he's your toy or pet or something," Matt said. "I'll meet you here after school. Hey kid!" he called.

"Who me?" said a short blonde boy in a blue jacket.

"Yeah, you," said Matt. "When does school get out?"

"Well sir, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers or I'll be grounded..."

"Look, we just want to know when school gets out."

"You're not gonna put something icky in my mouth, are you?"

"What?"

"Well, anyway, school gets out before Rad Racer, and it's my favorite show, and I sure do like to watch it every day, and it gets out after Animaniacs, so that means that school gets out..."

Matt, TK, Patamon, and Gabumon leaned forward, awaiting his answer.

"...at the same time as Terrence and Phillip comes on."

Matt rubbed his eyes, exasperated.

"Hey, just ignore Butters here," said a boy in a blue coat, overhearing the exchange. "School gets out at 3:00 every day."

"Thanks, kid, I- hey, did you just give me the finger?" Matt demanded.

"No," the boy said, walking away.

"Ugh, whatever. Okay TK, I'll meet you out here at three o'clock. Just try to remain inconspicous."

"Okay!" said TK happily. Then, a puzzled look crossed his face. "Matt, what's inconspicnuous mean?"

"Forget it," said Matt. "I'll see you later. Good luck!"

With that, TK and Patamon walked onto the playground to join with the other children while Matt and Gabumon walked towards town.

"Did you mean what you said?" asked Gabumon. "About his job being just as important?"

"Actually, I figure it'll just keep him safe. Then again, he might actually find something out. In any case, he'll be fine. What could go wrong?"

"In a public school?" asked Gabumon. "In an _American _public school?"

Matt stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide. "Oh no," he said. "What have I done?"

* * *

The bell had just rung and the children began to file into little lines in front of their respective teachers. TK wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't just get in any old line and expect to be accepted as a student.

"What do we do now, TK?" asked Patamon.

"I don't know," TK said. "Maybe we could ask a grown-up to help."

At that point a grown-up did arrive to help. She was blonde and wore black-rimmed glasses. "Well, hello there young fella," she said. "I'm Principal Victoria. What class are you in?"

"Uh, I don't know," said TK. "I'm new here."

"Oh, that's nice," she said. "Where are your parents?"

"They're... not here," TK answered, finding it the safest.

"Oh dear," the Principal said. "Well, God bless it, we'll find out where you're supposed to be," she said. "We'll just pay a visit to the guidance councilor and see if we can fix you up, okay hon?"

* * *

"Matt, what are those?" Gabumon asked, fascinated. They had walked onto the outskirts of town, thinking it might be best to avoid taking Gabumon among so many people in town.

"Those are cows," Matt explained. The two were facing a field of them. All of them were standing there in a herd, mooing and grazing as best they could in the snow-covered ground.

"Oh," said Gabumon. "Hello, cows!" said Gabumon politely.

"Moo?" a few seemed to ask.

"Gabumon, they can't talk," said Matt chuckling.

"Why not?" Gabumon asked.

"Well, for one, they're not really smart," said Matt. A few more cows began to look in Matt and Gabumon's direction. "In fact all they really do is eat and moo. These things are so dumb you can push them over while they're sleeping and they can't even get up by themselves. I hear they do that a lot in America."

By this time, the entire herd was looking directly at Matt and Gabumon.

"Uh, Matt," Gabumon piped up. "I think those cows are looking at us." Matt turned and saw that he was right, but he shrugged it off. "I think you made them mad," Gabumon told him.

"Yeah?" asked Matt, laughing. "Well, what are they going to do, squirt milk on me?"

While Matt was laughing, several of the cows began to kick a small metallic instrument up to the front of the herd. When it reached the front, they pointed it at Matt. He was still laughing when the lead cow stepped on a large red button on it, causing it to emit a green ray that struck the helpless Matt who was still chuckling at them.

"Matt!" cried Gabumon.

Matt's eyes suddenly grew wider and _sparklier. _His cheeks took on a rosy hue and his mouth was pulled up into an unbelievably tight smile. And then, to Gabumon's surprise, he broke out into song:

_"I like to sing-a,_

_and a dance-a,_

_and the June-a_

_and the spring-a!_

_I like to sing-a,_

_'Bout a sky of blue_

_or a tea for two . . ."_

As abruptly as he began, he stopped, his features returning to normal.

"What was that about, Matt?" asked Gabumon.

Matt looked to the cows, who were still watching him. "I don't know," he said. "But... let's just keep moving and pretend that didn't just happen, okay?"

"But Matt," Gabumon said, "I thought you said they were-"

"Never mind what I said!" Matt snapped, pulling his companion along with him. "I don't think I like cows in this dimension."

* * *

"Now, you may have some trouble getting used to Mr. Garrison's teaching methods," said the guidance councilor as he escorted TK to his new class, "but, try to follow along as best you can for now, m'kay?"

"Uh, m'kay," TK replied. The councilor who introduced himself as Mr. Mackey had a huge head, thinning hair, and a thin, lanky body. He was wearing a green shirt and tie and he was possibly one of the strangest looking people he'd ever met. However, traveling in the Digiworld had taught him that one could still trust someone even if they were funny looking.

"Now, uh, it's nice that you brought a pet," said Mr. Mackey, indicating Patamon, who was trotting quietly behind TK, "but tomorrow you need to let your little friend stay at home, m'kay?"

"M'kay," said TK.

Mr. Mackey led him to a small classroom with about twenty kids. Mr. Mackey told him to take a note he'd written and give it to the teacher, Mr. Garrison. TK walked in alone and handed Mr. Garrison the note.

Mr. Garrison was wearing a green shirt and green pants and he had squarish black glasses and a balding head. On his hand was a small puppet with a red and white striped hat. He read the note, then rolled his eyes and said to himself, "Oh no, not another one of these little bastards!"

"Huh?" TK asked, confused.

"Class," said Mr. Garrison, "we have a new student."

"Ah, fresh meat," said a harsh, high voice from the back. TK looked and saw an overweight boy his age wearing a red coat and a blue stocking cap (indoors? he asked himself). He was grinning at him maliciously.

"Anyway, everyone say hello to..." Mr. Garrison adjusted his glasses and said, "Jesus, how do you pronounce this, kid?"

"Takeru Takaishi," said TK prounouncing his full name.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, what is that, Chinese?" Mr. Garrison asked.

"No, Japanese!" TK said helpfully.

"Do you have a nick name?" Mr. Garrison said, unwilling to learn his full name.

"Lots of people call me TK."

"Okay, that'll do fine, TJ," said Mr. Garrison.

"That's TK," TK corrected.

"Fine. Whatever," he said. "Now, if you'll just... uh, what the heck is that with you?"

"Who? Patamon?" asked TK. "Uh, he's my pet Vietnamese potbellied pig." Patamon glared at him. TK shrugged, as if to say 'What else could I tell him?'

"All right, then, please take a seat, BJ," said Mr. Garrison.

TK didn't correct him this time. Instead, he nervously made his way to his seat and sat down. He looked to the left of him and saw a girl in a purple coat and pink hat with long dark hair smiling at him.

"Hi, TK," said the girl. "My name's Wendy."

"Hiya!" TK said cheerfully.

"Okay, now, before we were interrupted," Mr. Garrison said, continuing his lesson, "we were discussing David Hasselhoff's role in 'Knight Rider.' Now, they're supposed to have a great educational system in Japan, so perhaps you could tell us what Hasselhoff's character's full name was, VD?"

TK started to sweat. _Golly, _he thought to himself. _This is gonna be tougher than I thought._

* * *

"Hold on, I've got to take a rest," said Matt as he and Gabumon stopped outside some pine woods.

"I'm getting hungry," said Gabumon. "Maybe I could find something to eat in those woods."

"Maybe," said Matt as he sat down on a tree stump to rest. "Don't be too long, though, okay?"

"No problem!" said Gabumon smiling. He ran to the woods, eagerly sniffing out berries or nuts or something that he and Matt could eat. He was glad to be back with his friend and partner again. Even though it had only been a month, he had missed Matt terribly. Matt was a dynamic person and his presence had enriched Gabumon's life. His departure had left him feeling somehow less of a Digimon, as if he wasn't quite complete. He realized that they would eventually meet again, but he hadn't been sure when that would be. It could have been a year, or two, or twenty. However, fate had put them together again after only a month. Even if they were both strangers in a strange world, they were together again, which made it all bearable.

He turned and saw some berries growing on a bush. They looked okay to eat, but he wasn't sure. He examined them carefully, sniffed them and, using his keen senses, determined that they were edible. Just to make sure they were suitable for lunch, he ate a few.

"Hey, not bad!" he said to himself. He picked a handful of berries and was about to carry them back to Matt when he heard a rustling and hushed voices from some nearby bushes.

"You see that, Ned?" whispered one of the voices.

"What is it, Jimbo?" said the other voice, which was a loud, monotone electric buzz.

"Dammit, Ned! Can't you adjust the volume on that thing?" asked the first.

"No," buzzed the second.

"Who's there?" asked Gabumon. "Show yourselves!"

Two humans stood from behind the bushes and stared at the small digimon. The first one, the one called Jimbo, was tall and had a beer gut. He was wearing a vest and an orange hat. He was carrying a rifle in one hand a beer in the other. His partner, the one called Ned, was shorter, had one arm, wore sunglasses, a bandana on his head, and spoke via a microphone held to his throat. He also had a rifle.

"Wow, Ned!" said Jimbo. "This is incredible! A half-dog, half-lizard with a horn! And it talks!"

"What should we do?" buzzed Ned.

"What do you think?" asked Jimbo incredulously. "Kill it!"

Gabumon leapt out of the way as the two hunters blasted at the spot he occupied only a nanosecond earlier.

"Hey, watch it! _Blue Blaster!"_ he said, launching his attack.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Jimbo, dodging the energy beam of the blue blaster. "This thing shoots back! Get the grenades, Ned!"

"Grenades?" asked Gabumon, his eyes widening.

* * *

TK and Patamon were exploring the playground. He kind of liked the place. It had teeter totters, swing sets, a merry-go-round, and even a four-square field.

"This looks like a fun place, TK," whispered Patamon.

"Yeah, recess was always my favorite part of school," said TK.

"Well, well, well," said a familiar harsh voice from behind him. "No friends, so you're talking to your pig, huh?"

TK turned to see the same overweight boy from his new class who'd referred to him as "fresh meat." He was accompanied by three other boys who followed behind him.

"Allow me to introduce myself and my companions," said the fat boy. "This guy," he said, indicating a boy with a brown coat and a blue and red hat, "is Stan Marsh. His dog is a gay homosexual."

"Shut up, Fatass," said Stan, adding "Nice to meet you," to TK.

"This is Kyle Broslovski," said the fat boy, indicating the boy behind him, who was wearing a green hat with flaps and an orange coat with pockets. "He's a Jew."

"Shut up, Fatass," said Kyle, adding "Welcome to South Park," to TK.

"This poor-ass piece of crap bringing up the rear," he continued, unhindered, indicating a boy wearing an orange coat with a hood drawn up to the point of covering his face, "is Kenny McCormic."

"Shtp ftass," mumbled Kenny, adding "Tuhplem grdlmph," to TK, who had no idea what that meant but it still sounded friendly.

"And I," said the fat kid, stepping forward, "am-"

"Fatass?" asked TK, taking an innocent guess.

Stan, Kyle, and Kenny all laughed.

"No, God dammit!" said the fat boy, turning red. He regained his composure and then said, "I am Eric Cartman." He narrowed his eyes and stared coldly at TK. "And I... am your worst nightmare."

"Nice to meet you," said TK, smiling. "My name's TK."

Cartman scowled, frustrated at his failed attempt to intimidate the new kid. "What we have heeyah," he said, "is a failure to communicate."

"Heeyah?" TK asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, 'heeyah!'" shouted Cartman. "What's the matter, you Japanese piece of crap, can't you speak English good?"

"Sorry," TK apologized.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," said Cartman. "Around heeyah, I'm the boss and what I say goes!"

TK cracked a smile as Stan, Kyle, and Kenny shook their heads and made faces behind Cartman's back.

"Oh, so you think that's funny, huh?" said Cartman. Without warning, he suddenly charged TK and slammed into him, knocking him several feet back with his considerable bulk. "Respect my authoritai!" he shouted.

* * *

Matt looked up suddenly, hearing gunfire. He was about to investigate when he saw Gabumon suddenly burst forth from the woods.

"Gabumon!" Matt exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Never mind! Get down!" he shouted, tackling him. A moment later a huge explosion scattered wood and snow everywhere as one of Jimbo and Ned's grenades went off.

"What was that?" Matt asked.

"Hunters," said Gabumon. "They think I'm a rare animal and they want to put my head on a wall!"

"Look, Ned!" said Jimbo pursuing them out of the woods. "He's attacking that kid in the green shirt! Blast him!"

Both Matt and Gabumon had to run as the misguided hunters fired several rounds of shotgun fire after them. Apparently, Jimbo and Ned weren't aware of how close their shots were coming to Matt and there was no time to tell them to stop in between dodging shots.

"We'll just have to fight them!" yelled Matt. "You know what to do!"

"You've got it!" said Gabumon. _"Gabumon digivolve to..."_

Glowing and growing and changing shape, he re-formed himself and stood in front of the stunned gun nuts. _"...Garurumon!"_

"Holy crap!" buzzed Ned, who sounded awestruck despite the complete lack of change in tone. "How did it do that, Jimbo?"

"I don't know, but a wolf that huge would get us on the cover of 'Guns and Ammo' easy!" Jimbo replied, firing right into Garurumon's side with Ned following suit.

The shotgun shells deflected off of Garurumon, only slightly hurting him. He shook it off and then faced the two. _"Howling Blaster!"_ he attacked, aiming at their feet, causing them to be thrown back by the force of the explosion.

"Way to go, Garurumon!" congratulated Matt.

"This calls for something stronger," said Jimbo, pulling a rocket launcher from a sling on his back. "Time to thin out your numbers, wolfie!"

The rocket blasted forth from the rocket launcher and blasted Garurumon with full force, sending him to the ground, burned and dazed.

"We've got him this time!" buzzed Ned, high-fiving Jimbo.

"No!" cried Matt. "You can do it Garurumon! I know it!"

Suddenly, the blue symbol of Friendship which formerly adorned his crest began to glow upon his chest. Garurumon began to glow as well as he digivolved once again. _"Garurumon digivolve to... WereGarurumon!"_

Jimbo and Ned stood open-mouthed as they faced the humongous humanoid wolf.

"Jesus, this thing is tough!" shouted Jimbo.

"Why the hell is it wearing pants now?" Ned buzzed.

"Never mind, hit it again!" They both fired another rocket from their lauchers. Matt looked on as WereGarurumon stopped both rockets with his hands, causing them to explode. When the smoke and fire cleared, WereGarurumon still stood there proudly, unscathed and still without a scratch.

_"Wolf Claw!"_ cried WereGarurumon, sending two of the razor sharp cutting attacks over Jimbo and Ned's heads. They sliced the pines nearest them like knives through butter, causing tops of the trees to crash down upon them, rendering them incapacitated.

"Come on!" shouted Matt as WereGarurumon returned to his Rookie form as Gabumon. "We've got to get out of here before anyone else shows up!"

"Right!" Gabumon agreed as he and Matt ran as fast as they could, although neither knew where they were going.

"Goodbye 'Guns and Ammo,'" buzzed Ned, buried under a pile of trees.

"Dammit," sighed Jimbo.

* * *

"Hey, why did you do that?" asked TK, still hurting from Cartman's attack.

"That was for Pearl Harbor, Jap!" Cartman yelled.

"Cartman you don't even know what that means," Kyle said.

"Screw you!" said Cartman. "It's got something to do with Japan and this kid is sushi!"

As he came closer to TK, Patamon suddenly leapt in front of him. "Leave him alone, you big bully!" ordered the small orange digimon.

All four of the boys and much of the playground turned and stared as they saw the creature they'd thought was a pig speak. "Whoa, dude!" said Stan. "That pig can talk!"

"Yeah, how come your pig can't talk, Cartman?" asked Kyle.

"Damn, would you shut the hell up!" yelled Cartman in a rage. "Fine, kid. First, I'm going to kick your pig's ass, then I'll kick _yours."_

Cartman charged and tackled Patamon, sending him reeling. Patamon got up and took to the air, using his wing-like ears. He swooped down and head-butted Cartman in the gut. Cartman staggered back only slightly, while Patamon bounced off and skidded into the snow.

"Patamon!" cried TK, seeing how easily Cartman was beating his best friend.

"Man, that pig thingy is tough," observed Kyle, "but even he isn't a match for fatboy's gut!"

"Hell yeah!" agreed Cartman. "It will take more than your weak Japanese pig to destroy me!"

"That's it!" said Patamon, his face turning red with rage. "I am _NOT A PIG!" _Once again, he flew into the air, but this time he head-butted Cartman in the nose, causing Cartman to grab his nose in pain, still swearing. Still in the air, Patamon took careful aim at the disoriented boy and made his attack: _"Boom Bubble!"_

The burst of forceful sound flew at Cartman and struck right where Patamon intended: between Cartman's legs.

All the boys winced in pain as Cartman's eyes bulged in sudden agony. Holding himself, he let out a high pitched squeal and toppled over.

"Whoa dude, that kicked ass!" said Stan, coming over and congratulating TK and Patamon.

"Yeah, even if your pet isn't a pig, it's still cooler than Cartman's pig," said Kyle.

"Crtmn lks mr lka pg nywy," mumbled Kenny.

"Shut up," groaned Cartman, still face down in the snow. "I do not look like a pig..."

TK was basking in the glow of his new popularity, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for the overweight boy who had ended up being so thoroughly humiliated. He went over to him and offered him his hand, helping him up.

"Damn," said Cartman, "I thought I could whoop you with my sumo skills."

"You like sumo too?" asked TK.

"What, you've got sumo in Japan?" Cartman asked.

"Cartman, sumo was invented in Japan," Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

"Whoa, really? That's pretty sweet!" exclaimed Cartman, impressed that the Japanese had invented his favorite sport. "Well, hell, that makes you okay in my book," he said to TK, putting his arm on his shoulder. "Tell me more! You know, my mom says there's a lot of black people in Japan."

"Huh?" asked TK.

Patamon took his place on TK's head as they were joined by Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. "Hey, if Patamon's not a pig," Kyle began, "then what is he, exactly?"

All of the boys stopped and looked to TK and Patamon for the answer. The two looked at each other and shrugged, figuring that they had no choice but to tell. "Well..." TK began.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the best place to ask for help?" asked Gabumon. He asked because the place Matt had chosen to rest at was a huge, gray mansion with an iron fence and a desolate looking yard.

"It might be abandoned," Matt said. "Besides, it's the only other place out here. We'll just see if we can spend the night here or get good directions or something."

Matt knocked on the door. To his surprise, the door swung open on his first knock.

"Whoa," said Matt. "Let's take a look."

Gabumon followed Matt inside the old building reluctantly. It was giving him the creeps and he was starting to feel like Scooby Doo, snooping around a place this spooky. (That was one of the benefits of living with Gennai for the past month: the old man was an avid collector of old episodes of "Scooby Doo.")

"Matt, what kind of place is this?" Gabumon asked in wonder.

"I... don't know," replied Matt.

The room was filled with vials and tubes of odd, multi-colored liquid. Several notes lay scattered on the floor and odd sketches were drawn hastily on several chalkboards. There were several wooden boxes and cages from which odd noises could be heard. Most were hidden from view, but a few could be seen.

"Oh, Matt," said Gabumon, pointing at one visible creature. "Do you see that?"

"Yes," Matt said. "It looks like a... a..."

"A three-toed, four-assed sloth," said a voice from behind him.

Matt and Gabumon both gave a startled cry and whirled around to face the speaker. He was an aging man with a cane. He was wearing a yellow Hawaiian shirt and a hat with scraggly white hair poking out under it.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said the man. "I am Dr. Mephisto." The strange man walked past them and picked up notes off of the floor as he went. Scurrying after him was a small, bald creature that looked something like a human, but also something like a gopher. It didn't speak a word, but followed Mephisto silently. He was wearing a yellow shirt similar to Mephisto's.

"This is my friend, Kevin," said Mephisto, pointing to the small creature.

"Uh, hi," said Matt. "My name's Matt and this is my, uh, dog."

"Woof!" said Gabumon helpfully.

"That's not a dog, that's a digimon," said Mephisto calmly.

Matt blanched. "How do _you _know anything about digimon?" he asked.

"In a moment," Mephisto said. "Help me pick up these notes, first. Then, young man, I think you and I can talk."

Matt and Gabumon complied, helping him pick up the notes. When they were done, Mephisto took the notes and began to organize them. "I don't like this guy," Gabumon whispered to Matt. "He sounds creepy."

"Yeah, sort of like Marlon Brando," Matt said.

"Uh, actually, I was going to say he sounded like Cherrymon," Gabumon said.

"Oh. Yeah, he sounded a little like Marlon Brando too."

"Young man," called Mephisto. "I'm ready to talk with you." The doctor sat next to a computer monitor on a desk. Matt and Gabumon stood near him. "Kevin, will you go fetch us some Yoo-hoo?" The small humanoid wandered off to retrieve the drinks.

"Now then," said Mephisto. "You want to know how I know of digimon."

Matt and Gabumon nodded.

"Very well," he said. "I've been researching these creatures for a while now. When they first began to appear in this world, I suspected that they were the result of genetic experiments. After chasing various tales and finding only limited results, I became frustrated. I determined that they were in fact visitors from another world and I tried to get some samples of these creatures, since their strength could mean greater success if their genetic material was mixed into my own experiments. I traveled to Japan last month, hearing of the attack of a creature known as Myotismon and supposing that it would be the perfect place to gather some genetic material, provided there was any of him left."

Matt and Gabumon looked at each other and then to Mephisto, their eyes wide in horror. "You didn't try to clone Myotismon, did you?" asked Matt.

"Of course not!" said Mephisto. "Nor do I plan to."

"Well, then what did you do with-" Gabumon began.

"Now, then," said Mephisto, cutting him off. "I've never had a good chance to work with a living specimen of digimon. Perhaps I could assist you. Even improve upon..." here he gestured to Gabumon.

"Gabumon," said Matt.

"...improve upon Gabumon's genetic structure."

"How?" asked Matt, somewhat curious.

Mephisto smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. "Allow me to illustrate."

He took out a digital camera and snapped a photo of Gabumon. He then attached the camera to his computer. After typing a little bit, he brought up a three dimensional picture of Gabumon on the screen.

"All right," said Mephisto. "This is Gabumon. Are you still with me?"

"Yes," said Matt and Gabumon simultaneously.

"Good." Mephisto then typed a few more things into the computer, changing the picture. He examined it, then turned the picture to the boy and his digimon.

"And this," he said, indicating the picture, "is what Gabumon would look like with four asses."

Matt and Gabumon stared in open-mouthed disbelief.

"So? Pretty impressive, eh boys?" Mephisto said, grinning.

"Run, Gabumon!" Matt shouted, taking off down a flight of stairs with his companion. They could hear Mephisto call after them as they descended further into the depths of his basement. The two of them eventually wandered into a room which was almost pitch black.

"I can't see a thing," said Matt. "How about you?"

"I've got good eyes," said Gabumon. "Just give me a second... yes, I think I found a light switch." He flipped the switch.

As the lights went up, revealing their surroundings, Matt got a good look at what was in the room.

"What the heck?" Matt asked. He saw at the far corner of the room a large tube filled with gel. Floating in the gel was a strange woman with tubes attached to her face, most likely to help her breathe.

"What do think it is, Matt?" Gabumon asked.

"I think that sick freak is keeping her down here to perform experiments on her," said Matt, his eyes growing more determined by the minute. "Let's get her out of here, then trash that sicko!"

"You've got it," said Gabumon. _"Blue Blaster!"_

The blast shattered the glass tube, spilling out the greenish gel and letting the woman drop to the floor. At first, she said nothing, only laid there. Then, she awoke, opening her eyes and slowly removing the tubes attached to her face. She was wearing a nice brown suit and sensible shoes. She also had a large nose.

"Uh, are you okay, miss?" Matt asked.

"I'm better than okay," said the woman, a cold grin appearing on her face. "I'm Barbara Streisand!" With that, she released a long stream of oddly familiar red energy from her hand and prepared to strike the two with it. _"Crimson Lightning!"_ she shrieked.

* * *

"So, let's see if I've got this straight," said Stan. "You and a bunch of other kids got sucked into a parallel dimension made up of all the data from all the computers in the world, got your own digimon who protected you and helped you save the world, and now you've been captured and scattered to a whole bunch of different worlds and places and times and stuff."

"Yep," said TK.

"Wow, dude," said Kyle. "That's pretty fucked up."

"Hey, how do we know he's telling the truth?" Cartman asked suspiciously.

"Cartman, look at Patamon," said Kyle. "He can talk, fly, and shoot bubbles of sound at you. He's not like some ordinary animal. He's got to be from another dimension."

Cartman couldn't argue with that. "Well, in any case, let's get some lunch," he said as they got into the lunch line.

"So, you're here alone?" Stan asked TK.

"No, my brother came with me, but he's in town right now," TK answered.

"How are you supposed to get home?" Stan asked.

"I don't know," TK said despondently.

"Hey guys!" said Wendy, walking up to them.

"Hey Wendy," they all said.

"TK, I think it's really great that you're here in South Park," she said.

"Thanks," said TK, brightening up.

"Yeah, maybe you could come over to my house and study some time," Wendy said. "I could tutor you."

Stan frowned and glared at the two of them, but said nothing.

"Well, maybe," said TK.

"Cool! See ya!" said Wendy.

"Bye, Wend-ugh!" said TK as Stan suddenly grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"Listen, TK, I like you," said Stan, "but, don't even think about moving in on my girlfriend!"

"Girlfriend?" asked Cartman incredulously. "Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

"Sorry, Stan," said TK. "I won't! I wasn't even thinking about dating her."

"Oh," said Stan, releasing him. "Okay. Sorry."

"No problem," said TK. "Besides, I know how you feel."

All four of the other boys and Patamon stared at him. "What do you mean, TK?" asked Patamon.

"Yeah, do you have a woman, TK?" Cartman asked. The other boys watched TK with interest.

"Well, there is this girl," said TK, his cheeks reddening. "Her name's Kari. I guess I kind of like her. I've got a picture of her."

TK pulled out a picture of the whole Digidestined group and their digimon taken when the Primary Village was first rebuilt after Apocalymon was defeated. He pointed to Kari and Gatomon standing at the head of the group. He was glad Centaurumon made him a copy.

"Hey, she's kinda cute," said Stan.

"Yeah, dude, you're lucky," said Cartman.

"I saved her life once," boasted TK, thinking back to when Angemon finally digivolved.

"Really?" Stan asked, impressed. "Did you kiss her?"

"Or slip her the tongue?" asked Cartman.

"R tch hr psy?" asked Kenny.

"No," said TK to Kenny. "Gatomon never liked to be petted very much."

Kenny started laughing at something, but TK wasn't sure what it was.

The line moved ahead a little bit and the boys stepped into the kitchen of the school cafeteria.

"Hello there, children!" said a tall black man in a chef's hat.

"Hey, Chef," said the children in greeting.

"How are all my little- AAAH!" Chef yelled suddenly, dropping a plate. "Look out, children! It's a troll!"

He was pointing to TK.

"No, Chef, this is our new friend, TK," said Stan.

"Oh, yeah? Then why does he got them big ol' eyes?" asked Chef, untrusting.

"He's Japanese," said Cartman.

"Oh," said Chef, relaxing. "Sorry about that, little cracker."

"It's okay," said TK. "What's a cracker?"

"Chef, we need your advice," said Stan, ignoring TK's question.

"Well, what seems to be the problem?" asked Chef.

"TK says he and his friend," Stan indicated Patamon, "got transported here from another dimension by some evil butt-pirate monster named Mini Apocalymon and he doesn't know how to get home. Any words of advice?"

Chef thought long and hard about this. He rubbed his chin and his brown eyes became serene and thoughtful. Finally, he looked down at TK, assuming the most compassionate look possible.

"Boy," he said, addressing TK.

"Yes?" TK asked hopefully.

"You're fudged."

* * *

"Oof!" said Matt, hitting the ground hard. He and Gabumon had managed to avoid Streisand in the basement, but she had followed them back up the stairs and out the front door. They tried to get some space between themselves and the deadly diva, but to no avail. Streisand fired another Crimson Lightning attack at their feet and they hit the snowy ground hard.

Matt felt a heavy foot as it stepped on his back. "Nice try, bubby," said Streisand coldly. "But you can't get away from me."

She reached down and plucked Matt's digivice from his waist. Matt tried to call out to Gabumon, but he had no breath to call and Gabumon looked unconscious.

"You pathetic fool," she said. "I can use this digivice to digivolve and assume my rightful place as ruler of this world!" She cackled hysterically as she attached the digivice to her own hip pocket.

_"Barbara Streisand digivolve to..."_

Matt rolled over and saw the woman glow and then shoot up several hundred feet. She reformed as she digivolved and soon she stood in her new form: _"...Mecha Barbara Streisand!"_

Matt stared in horror. She was the size of a skyscraper. She was lizardlike, with a long tail and a saurian face, but she was made entirely of metal and looked robotic. She let out a howl of triumph that shook the whole countryside. Then, to Matt's dismay, she looked down at him and his fallen digimon. "You aren't worth my time, puny human," she scoffed. "Without your digivice, you're no threat to me, either. As for South Park, they will pay for defeating me last time!"

Cackling madly, the lumbering giant stomped toward the tiny mountain town. Matt and Gabumon could only watch as she marched down the hillside toward the unknowing community below.

"Well, now look what you've done," said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw Mephisto standing there.

"What _we've_ done?" Matt shouted in disbelief. "You created that thing! This is your fault!"

"Listen," Mephisto said. "I needed to see if digimon DNA could be successfully used to stabilize a human clone. My past experiments yielded... unpleasant results. So, I used Myotismon's DNA to enhance the clone of the strongest creature I could find. Namely Ms. Streisand. She attacked our town previously and was defeated, but I still thought her DNA might have proved useful. The experiment worked a little too well, unfortunately. I realized that the clone retained Myotismon's memories, as well as her own, not to mention inheriting Myotismon's special abilities and attacks. I decided to put her into stasis and study her condition with her unconscious. Now, however, it appears she must be destroyed."

"But, how can she digivolve?" Matt asked. "It takes a human and a digimon to make it work."

"Easy," said Mephisto. "That device which you use to make your own digimon digivolve could conceivably work for any human/digimon pair. Since the Barbara Streisand clone has both human and digimon genetic chromosomes, she was able to make herself digivolve."

"Oh," said Matt and Gabumon in unison.

"Come on, Gabumon!" Matt said. "We've got to stop her, get the digivice back, and save that town!"

"Are you sure we have to save that town?" Gabumon asked, still a little miffed about being shot at by its citizens.

"TK and Patamon are still down there," Matt said urgently.

"Oh," said Gabumon, drooping visibly. "Great."

* * *

"Wow, you guys have it easy," said TK as he and his four new friends walked out the front door.

"How do you figure that?" Kyle asked.

"You get out sooner and you don't have to stand up when the teacher calls on you," replied TK. "That's how it is back in Tokyo."

"Gee, that sucks, dude," said Stan.

"Hey, have you ever been attacked by Godzilla?" asked Cartman upon hearing the word "Tokyo."

"You dumbass!" Stan said. "There's no real Godzilla. I mean, what are the odds of a giant evil monster destroying a city anyway?"

Just then, a crowd of citizens ran past the front of the school. "Run for your lives kids!" said one as he ran by. "Barbara Streisand is back on the loose and she's destroying the city!"

"Sht!" exclaimed Kenny.

"You were saying something about giant evil monsters?" Cartman said slyly to Stan.

"Who's Barbara Streisand?" asked TK.

"She's an evil bitch who wants to take over the world," explained Kyle. "She tore through our town over a year ago, but Robert Smith of the Cure destroyed her."

"We thought," added Cartman.

"Whoa!" said TK. "Sounds scary." Just then, a thought occurred to him. "Matt! He's still in town! We've got to find him!"

"Forget it dude," said Stan. "Barbara Streisand could kill you ten times before you hit the ground."

"No way," said TK. "Besides, remember what I told you about Patamon? He can digivolve and beat any monster around!"

"Hey, that just might work!" Kyle said perking up. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" said TK. "It might be dangerous. Maybe you should stay here."

"No way, dude," said Stan. "We've faced demons, devils, monsters..."

"...underwear gnomes, evil executives, planetarium megalomaniacs . . ." continued Kyle.

"...aliens, zombies, and the Costa Rican rainforest!" finished Cartman.

"Well..." said TK, considering. "Are you sure?"

"Is Pokemon lame?" Cartman asked back.

* * *

"Ready... go!" shouted Matt as he and Gabumon leapt onto Mecha Barbara Streisand's leg as it passed by them.

"Get off me, you insects!" she thundered, shaking them off easily.

"Are you okay, Matt?" Gabumon asked, going over to Matt, who'd landed harder than himself.

"Fine," Matt groaned. "But we still need that digivice back. Without it, you can't digivolve and stop that thing!"

Gabumon looked up at the towering monster. On her hip was the digivice. While he didn't say it to Matt, he wasn't sure he could stop Streisand even if he did digivolve. She was enormous, as tall as Venom Myotismon had been. And it took both himself and WarGraymon to defeat him.

"What can we do?" asked Gabumon. "My blue blaster has no effect and by the time we get up there, she'll have destroyed the whole town!"

Matt looked around. She was taking her time, enjoying the destruction, but she was destroying this town nonetheless. She was selectively stomping certain buildings and then scattering the rubble. They had to hurry, but Matt honestly didn't know what to do.

Just then, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

* * *

"Matt!" called TK. "Matt, where are you?"

"Hey, what does your brother look like anyway?" Stan asked.

"Like... that!" TK shouted excitedly as he saw Matt and Gabumon running toward them.

"TK!" Matt said happily, hugging his brother. "You're still okay!"

"Aw, weak, this guy looks like a hippie!" said Cartman.

"Dude, shut up!" Stan hissed.

"Matt, these are my new friends I met in school," said TK. "This is Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny!"

"Hello," said Stan.

"Hey," said Kyle.

"Wazzup!" said Cartman.

"Hgh," said Kenny.

"What?" asked Matt upon hearing Kenny.

"Hgh," Kenny repeated.

"What?" Matt said, straining to hear the muffled boy.

"Hgh! Hgh, Gd dmt!" said Kenny, scowling.

"Matt! He said 'Hi,'" TK said exasperated. "Anyway, where's the monster?"

Suddenly, the building across the street was crushed by a gigantic metal foot and the boys found themselves staring up at the huge behemoth!

"Never mind, I found it," said TK. "Maybe you should digivolve, Gabumon."

"He can't," said Matt. "She has my digivice. It's up to you, kiddo."

TK looked to Patamon. "It's time, Patamon."

"Sweet!" said Stan. "He's gonna turn into an angel!"

Patamon readied himself, then began to glow. _"Patamon digivolve to..."_

The group stood grinning in anticipation. Then, when it was over, their faces fell. Before them was not the holy warrior they'd expected, shining with brilliant inner light. Instead, they were facing something big, pink, smelly, and curly-tailed.

_"...Hogmon,"_ the newly-evolved Patamon finished lamely.

"Hey!" said Cartman. "I thought you said he wasn't a pig!"

"He... wasn't," said TK.

"He must digivolve into a different form in this dimension," said Gabumon.

"I'll be honest TK," said Hogmon. "This is a little embarrassing."

"Don't worry, Pata- I mean, Hogmon," TK said, encouragingly. "You're still my digimon and you can still beat that big lizard!"

The huge pig-like digimon raised his snout with pride. "Well, here goes nothing," he said, trying his new attack. _"Snort of Fury!"_

With that, he began to snort through his snout, creating a vacuum strong enough to suck up a smaller enemy. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near strong enough to affect the gargantuan Mecha Barbara Streisand.

"Ha, what a pathetic effort!" laughed Streisand, throwing her head back. However, she didn't realize that the force of Hogmon's snort attack had managed to pry the digivice off her hip and into his snout!

"TK! I god da digibice!" shouted Hogmon to the children as they took cover, his snout plugged by all the debris, including the digivice, that he'd sucked up. Just then, however, Streisand kicked the pig in the stomach, sending him flying. Even so, the force of the kick caused Hogmon to blast the digivice from his snout like a cannonball into Matt's stomach. As Matt fell back from the impact, Hogmon tumbled onto the front of a parked car, flipping it high into the air.

"Matt, are you okay?" asked Gabumon.

"Sure am!" Matt said, standing up. "You see this guys? We're going to be just fine!"

Just then, the car Hogmon landed on came down and smashed Kenny flat as a pancake.

"Oh my God! She killed Kenny!" Stan screamed.

"You bastard!" Kyle shouted, shaking his fist at the towering robotic nightmare.

Matt stood there in disbelief. "That poor kid," said Matt, a huge rage building up inside of him. "NO!" he howled, and as he did, the emblem of Friendship once again gleamed upon his chest.

_"Gabumon warp digivolve to... Metal Garurumon!"_ said his digimon.

"Whoa!" said the three remaining boys, gawking at huge cybernetic wolf.

"Get her!" said Matt, a look of determination on his face.

Metal Garurumon soared up into the air and targeted Streisand. _"Metal Wolf Claw!"_ he shouted, blasting her with dozens of missiles, encasing her in ice.

"Did it work?" asked Stan.

Mecha Barbara Streisand suddenly shattered the ice and swatted Metal Garurumon to the ground.

"Guess not," said Cartman.

"Hey, wait!" exclaimed Kyle. "Matt! Big metal wolf thing! Aim for her weak spot!"

"Where's that?" asked Matt.

"Her nose!" shouted the three boys at once.

Metal Garurumon stood and once again took to the air, willing to try a new strategy. _"Ice Wolf Claw!"_ he attacked, sending a beam of pure freezing energy onto Streisand's enormous, repulsive nose. As she shrieked in temporary disorientation, Metal Garurumon fired his final attack: _"Giga Missile!"_

The missile blasted the nose into atoms and Streisand only gave a momentary howl of pain as she disintegrated into data and was deleted.

"All right!" all the children cheered.

"These guys are as good as Robert Smith!" said Kyle.

As Hogmon and Metal Garurumon devolved back into Patamon and Gabumon, Matt said, "Hey, maybe we should get out of here before people start asking questions."

"No problem," said Cartman. "We can stay at my house."

* * *

TK wasn't sure what a Cheesy Poof was, but he was sure that he liked it. Matt was taking a shower, Gabumon was taking a nap, and Patamon was avoiding Cartman's pet pig, Fluffy. "I think she likes you," Cartman said of Fluffy's affectionate attitude towards Patamon.

"Hey, TK," said Kyle. "Ever read one of these?"

Kyle handed TK a magazine that he'd never heard of before. It was something called "Penthouse." He opened it and began leafing through the pictures.

"I'm back," said Matt, toweling off his hair but still wearing his same clothes. "Hey, listen, I'm really sorry about your friend Kenny," he said.

"Huh? Are you still talking about that?" Stan asked, only slightly glancing up from the TV show they were watching.

"Well, yeah," said Matt, a little confused.

"Jeez, Matt," said TK, still leafing through the magazine. "You need to relax and move on."

"Well, excuse me, but I just think it's kind of sad that- TK, WHAT ARE YOU READING?"

"I dunno," said TK, calmly. "Something with a lot of pictures of ladies. This one looks like Mimi," he said, pointing to the picture.

Matt snatched it away. "TK! That's no way to talk about one of our-" he suddenly got a glimpse of the picture TK was talking about. "-of our... well, now that you mention it, yeah, she _does_ kind of look like Mimi."

Matt stopped talking and instead turned a few more pages, his eyes staring without blinking and glazing over somewhat. He was so absorbed in the magazine that he didn't even notice when a small electric voice filled the air: "Matt! TK! This is Izzy! Are you there?"

Matt didn't react. "Matt, pay attention, it's Izzy!" said TK, shaking him.

"Huh? What?" said Matt, coming out of a stupor.

"I haven't seen him look like that since he rented 'Ghost in the Shell,'" said TK to the three boys.

"Izzy?" said Matt, picking up his digivice. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Matt," said Izzy's voice. "I think I've found a solution to get us back together. Can you and TK get to a computer?"

Matt looked to Cartman. "My mom's got one in her room," he said.

"Yes," said Matt.

"Great!" said Izzy. "All you have to do is hold on to your digimon, press your digivices against the screen of an active computer, and, provided everything has gone well for our friends, you should be transported back to where we started from."

"Really?" asked TK.

"All right!" Matt shouted happily. "We're going home!"

"With luck, I'll see you later," said Izzy. "Izzy out."

* * *

"Well, I'm going to miss you guys," said TK as they stood in Cartman's computer room. "In fact, we'll all miss this place, won't we?"

"No," said Matt, Gabumon, and Patamon impatiently.

"Well, we'll miss you too," said Kyle.

"Yeah, I've learned something today," said Stan. "I learned that no matter what country you come from, or what dimension, or whatever, you can still be a good person and teach even a fat racist like Cartman a few things."

"Hey!" said Cartman.

"Oh, look at the time," said Matt, dragging TK over to the computer. "Let's go!"

Matt and TK grabbed onto their digimon and began to bring their digivices toward the glowing computer screen.

"Hey, Matt," said Gabumon. "You still have that magazine in your pocket."

"Uh, no I don't," Matt replied hastily. He hoped to God that this worked...

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Between the Lines

_(NOTE: The characters in this story are from the CD-ROM series "MYST." Like most of these chapters, this one is skippable. However, even if you know absolutely nothing about this series, I still encourage you to read on, as I'll explain most of what you need to know. Certain details here are from _The Book of D'ni, _by Rand Miller and David Wingrove, so only this plot line is mine. As for you Joe fans, I hope you enjoy this.)_

**SCATTERED, Part 4**

**"Between the Lines"**

Joe looked to the man who'd introduced himself as Atrus. Gomamon hung around his neck and the two looked down to the book. The small picture on the page it was open to was like nothing they'd ever seen. The picture moved, turned and flew, showing different angles of a world so clearly that it looked as if it was right through a window.

Only a minute ago, Atrus had met them on this mysterious island, which Atrus aptly called Myst, and led them inside the small library, where he showed them a book he had hidden. He had barely minced words, but only laid the book open on a table and then told him to touch the panel.

"You want me to touch that picture?" asked Joe.

"That's right," said Atrus. "Don't be afraid."

Joe _was_ afraid, but he took a deep breath and touched the page.

With a sickening lurch he felt as if he were falling and as if the picture on the page had suddenly grown huge to swallow him up. Then, darkness over came his vision and he was engulfed in it.

A moment later, he and Gomamon were standing on a concrete platform, surrounded by people going busily about their ways in the middle of a bustling village. They were back in their bodies, as if nothing had even happened.

"Woo!" said Gomamon, hopping down from Joe's shoulders. "What a ride!"

They got a few stares from the villagers who seemed a little disturbed by the small talking creature. There was a sound behind them and Atrus materialized behind them.

"You're among friends," said Atrus. "This is Releeshahn. This is my home."

Joe was still pale and he only looked at Atrus.

"Linking through those books takes a little getting used to, doesn't it?" asked Atrus with a smile.

Joe responded by falling flat on his face, passing out.

"Aw, Joe!" said Gomamon, shaking his head, embarrassed.

* * *

When Joe awoke, he was on a soft bed in a room made entirely of wood. A book case filled with several old-looking volumes was on one wall and a gas lamp stood on a table by the small bed. He looked further around the room and spotted Gomamon asleep on a chair.

"Gomamon!" called Joe.

"Joe?" asked Gomamon coming out his light sleep. "Hey, Atrus, he's awake!"

Atrus and a woman in a dark green dress came into his room. "Ah, so he is," remarked Atrus. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," said Joe. "I'm just not used to getting sucked into books is all."

"Well, do you feel well enough to eat something?" asked Atrus.

Joe looked up, then over to Gomamon who was grinning. "Sure!" he said, enthusiastically.

* * *

Joe had no idea what was in the soup he was eating, but it delicious, which he supposed was all that mattered. Spending time in the Digiworld had taught him that if something you ate was tasty, it was better to not know what it was. Every time he'd asked, he'd been sorry.

Gomamon was having the same thing and he had no qualms about eating it noisily. Atrus and the woman in the green dress watched them for a while, not saying anything.

Eventually, however, Atrus asked a question. "Well, my friend, what is your name?"

"Joe Kido," he said. "And this is Gomamon."

"Charmed. Mmm!" said Gomamon still slurping his soup loudly.

"As I said, my name is Atrus," Atrus said, "and this is my wife, Catherine."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Atrus," said Joe to Catherine, bowing formally.

She laughed. "Actually, we don't really have last names around here, Joe," she said. "Atrus' full name is Atrus, Son of Gehn. I come from a society that had no way of separating people by last names, so simply Catherine will do."

Joe nodded. "Okay, well, it's nice to meet you, Catherine."

"Well, tell me about your friend, Gomamon," said Atrus. "I'm assuming that you're from Earth, the planet I was born on. However, last time I was there, no creatures except humans were capable of speech. I'm curious about what he is."

"I'm a digimon," said Gomamon simply, and then went back to eating, letting Joe do the explaining.

"Okay, let me try and explain this in simple terms," Joe began. And so, over the course of dinner, he told Atrus and Catherine about how he and the others were taken into the Digiworld, how they met their companions, how they digivolved, how they saved both worlds and how they had been forced to say goodbye, and finally how they had been reunite only to be scattered to different worlds by Mini Apocalymon.

The two of them listened in fascination and offered Joe more soup as he spoke. When he was done, Atrus and Catherine looked to each other.

"It sounds like you come from a different time on Earth," said Atrus. "It is quite possible that you are from the future of the planet I once called home."

"That's amazing," said Joe. "So tell me, where are we and what's with these books you can go inside?"

Atrus chuckled slightly. "Well, it looks like you're going to get quite a story in return, my friend," he said.

* * *

Atrus seated them in his living room. Apparently Atrus usually resided in a place called Tomahna, but they were currently in his residence in Releeshahn. Looking out the window, Joe could see that each house was different, likely built by numerous individuals, and that Atrus had a large and well-furnished house, perhaps one of the nicest in the town.

Atrus and Catherine were seated on a couch that was crafted skillfully out of wood, the cushions stuffed with feathers. Joe was sitting in a chair of similar design. Gomamon was laying down on Joe's lap, happy to have someplace comfortable to relax after dinner.

"Our story begins nearly seventy years ago," Atrus began. "For thousands of years, a race of people called the D'ni lived in a massive cavern below the Earth's surface. They invented an art that involved writing in special books that allowed them to link to other worlds. We call these worlds 'Ages.' My grandmother was the first full human to have contact with them. She had one son, my father. When he was merely a boy, the D'ni civilization came to an abrupt end when revolutionaries overtook and destroyed the whole city.

"My grandmother and father escaped as the sole survivors. Later, I was born, although my mother died in childbirth. Through a... complicated series of events, I learned about the Art of writing those Linking Books and became an author of them myself. Myst, the island you arrived upon, was my home for quite a while. Catherine and I raised two sons there."

Atrus stopped, as if suddenly pained, and then continued. "My sons became ambitious, however, and their imaginations went wild with the thought of what they could do with the Linking Books. They betrayed both Catherine and myself, trapping us both in prison worlds of sorts. Fortunately, a person who I will only refer to as the Stranger freed us both and brought my sons to justice. The Stranger asked that I not mention any details about who they were, and I have respected that, so I will only say that they were a traveler from Earth who came and went with very few words between us. They were quiet, yes, but a clever and loyal friend indeed.

"Once order had been restored, I and a race of people from a world called Averone launched a plan to reunite the remaining survivors of D'ni. Eventually the few thousand remaining D'ni relocated here, to Releeshahn, and here we have been rebuilding our society ever since."

Joe was speechless. "Wow," he said simply.

"So, you guys can make your own worlds?" asked Gomamon.

"No, that's not correct," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Not at all. The Books we write are filled with descriptions of worlds we would find desirable. The books then link to pre-existing worlds according to what we describe."

"Wait," said Joe, trying to understand, "you're saying that for every possible description you write there's a world that can match it?"

"It's never failed in the thousands of years it has been done," said Atrus. "We call it the Tree of Possibility. Quite simply, all that you can write can be. In all the universe, there are different planets with an infinite history stretching both forward and backward in time. Time and space are all relative in the Tree."

"My head's starting to hurt, Gomamon," Joe said to his small friend. "I'll bet Izzy would be better off here than me." Just then, a thought struck him.

"Hey!" said Joe. "If you can write a book to any world anywhere, maybe you could write a book that would get me and Gomamon back to the Digital World!"

Atrus and Catherine looked at each other, both reluctant to speak. Catherine finally spoke up. "Unfortunately, Joe," she said, "the chances of linking to the exact right place and time are extremely remote. I mean, maybe ten million to one. The description we wrote would have to be exactly right and there's still no guarantee we would be able to get the right time. I'm afraid we couldn't possibly use a Linking Book to get you home."

Joe looked down, his one hope crushed. Gomamon was depressed as well.

"Don't worry," said Atrus. "I'm sure that we will find a way to get you back to the place where you belong. I assure you that I will do all I can to help."

Joe looked back up and offered them a weak smile. "Thank you," he said, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

To Joe's amusement, Atrus pushed his glasses up on his nose as well. "You're welcome," he said.

* * *

The next morning, Joe awoke in Atrus' guest bedroom. Sunlight streamed in through the window and he could hear people going about their business outside. He stood and looked out and saw Releeshahn for the first time from the upstairs room.

The place was fertile and covered with hills. Thousands of houses dotted the land. Trees grew among them, giving the area a natural, undisturbed look. Along the hillsides, he could see more houses being built. At the center of the village was the main areas of the community. Shops, a town square, a place he guessed was the main government building, and perhaps a library.

"I'd like to check out one of the books from _that _library," said Joe to himself, remembering what books were to the D'ni.

Most impressive, though, was the towering spire at the center of the city. Tall as a skyscraper, black as obsidian, it stood tall in the center of the town. Joe guessed that it was there before the D'ni, since it didn't appear to be manmade, but he couldn't imagine how such a large natural structure had come to be.

"Joe?" asked Gomamon, yawning at the foot of the bed. "You awake?"

"Yep," he said. "Come on, let's get dressed," Joe said changing out of the nightshirt he'd been given.

Gomamon looked at his small, quadrupedal body. "I don't think they have anything that'll fit me," he joked.

Joe went downstairs to find Atrus and Catherine. However, to his surprise, neither one was there. He found a bowl of fruit on the table and a note next to it.

"'Dear Joe and Gomamon,'" Joe read off the note, "'Catherine and I have gone to the library to see if there is any mention of the Digital World in the histories. You seemed tired, so we chose not to wake you. Please help yourself to some fruit for breakfast. We have a well behind the house if you are thirsty. Regards, Atrus.'"

Gomamon hopped onto the table and took a small green fruit from the bowl. "Nice folks, aren't they?" Gomamon asked.

"Yeah," Joe agreed. "I have to say, even though we've been banished to a far away alien land, at least we got a nice one. I mean, think about how hard it was to find food and a bed in the Digital World. Looks like we got lucky for once. I hope the others are doing as well as we are."

"Me too," said Gomamon. He took a bite out his fruit and said, "Hey, this is pretty good! We should take these back with us!"

Joe smiled. Gomamon was always an optimist. Even after last night's disappointment, he was still confident that they would find a way home. Joe couldn't stay pessimistic in his digimon's presence. He looked down and noticed a post script on the note.

"'P.S.,'" he read. "'Feel free to explore the house, but please don't touch my books.'"

Joe did do some exploring after breakfast. He peeked inside Atrus and Catherine's room and found it to be ornate without being gaudy. He really admired Atrus' attention to detail. He wondered if it came with being a writer. He felt like Atrus and himself were kindred spirits.

Later he checked Atrus's office. It had a desk with a pen and an old-fashioned inkwell, both, to his surprise, appeared to be made of stone. Stacked on the table and filling the shelves were many books, and Joe guessed that they were probably more Linking books to other worlds, or "Ages" as Atrus seemed to prefer to call them. He heeded Atrus' word, however, and resisted the urge to open them.

He had explored most of the house when he saw a door in the ceiling of the upstairs hallway.

"Where do you suppose that leads?" asked Gomamon.

"The attic, I guess," said Joe. "Let's check it out."

Holding Gomamon up to reach the handle, Joe and his partner were able to open the trap door and slide down a set of stairs. They climbed it and found themselves in the attic.

"Wow," said Gomamon. "Look at all this stuff!"

Joe was also impressed. They were surrounded by old relics. Odd pieces of furniture, strange-looking toys (among them a wind up bird and a "cobra-in-the-box" that scared the pants off Joe), a stack of books that appeared to be burned, telescopes, homemade maps, and several preserved specimens of creatures Joe couldn't even identify.

"Joe, look at this!" Gomamon exclaimed, rushing out from one corner of the room with a small object in his flipper. Unfortunately, he had trouble running that way and tripped, sliding into a pedestal with a book on it, causing them both to fall over.

"Hey, watch it!" said Joe, seeing the book spill onto the floor.

"Sorry," said Gomamon. "But look what I found!"

Joe looked and saw the object Gomamon had with him. It was a small, round marble that glowed like a flame. It was bright enough to light the room like a candle, yet it didn't feel particularly warm. It was perfectly smooth, like glass.

"That is kind of impressive," admitted Joe. He put it in his pocket, deciding to ask Atrus about it later. Then he looked down at the book and saw that it was open.

He bent down to pick it up.

"Joe, Atrus said not to touch those things," Gomamon reminded him.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to use it," said Joe. "I'll just put it back where it belongs."

As he bent down, however, he saw the descriptive panel and saw not a panoramic view of an age, but a man looking out at him.

"Hello?" came the small voice of the man. "Who are you?"

Joe stared at the man curiously. He wasn't sure what to do. He knew that these books were supposed to link to places, not people.

"You can see me?" asked Joe. Gomamon watched curiously from a few feet away.

"Yes," said the man. "But please, tell me, who are you?"

"My name's Joe," he said. "I just got here yesterday. Who are you?"

"You mean Atrus hasn't mentioned me?" said the man curiously.

"No," said Joe, puzzled.

"Oh... Well then," said the man. "I am Gehn, Atrus' father."

"Hey, he did mention you! He didn't tell me you lived a book though," said Joe, who had suspected that Atrus' father was dead. "What are you doing in the attic?"

"The attic?" Gehn asked. "Oh, I came to see Atrus, but he wasn't here. I thought perhaps he had gone to visit one of his ages, so I used this book. Unfortunately, it seems I made a mistake and used one of his trap books."

"Trap books?" Joe asked, picking up the book and replacing it on the pedestal.

"Yes," said Gehn. "They're just a security measure to trap greedy explorers. They're only a precaution, but I appear to have accidently trapped myself."

Joe looked at the man and he did in fact seem to be trapped. He smiled at Joe and looked a little embarrassed by his situation. "Is there something I can do to help?" Joe asked.

"Yes, my friend, there is," said Gehn. "In order to free someone from a trap book, you need only touch the panel yourself and I will be let out."

Joe raised his hand to place it on the panel uneasily, then let his hand drop. "Maybe we should wait for Atrus to get home," said Joe.

"Oh," said Gehn, sounding dejected. "I see. Well, I understand that you have no reason to trust me. It is all right. I can wait a few hours more in here."

"Come on, Joe!" said Gomamon. "Help the guy! What harm could he do?"

Joe considered. It was against his better instincts, but... "Okay," he said reluctantly. He once again raised his hand and pressed his palm against the panel.

Instantly, he felt himself pulled forward and darkness once again overtook his senses.

When his vision cleared, he was in total darkness, save for a small square frame that he could look through like a window. He was staring out into the attic. And there stood Gehn, looking down at him.

"Well, my dear boy," he said coldly. "It appears we've changed places. You've freed me after years of being a prisoner. I hope my warm, heartfelt thanks will be enough to keep you comfortable in there."

That's when it hit Joe: he was in the book now!

Outside the book, Gomamon stared up at the tall man dressed in a proud white coat. His hair was gray and his forehead was a high dome. In his hand, he carried a staff.

"Hey, what did you do to my pal?" Gomamon demanded.

"What's this, a talking seal?" Gehn asked, seeing Gomamon for the first time. "No matter," he said, swinging his foot, kicking him across the room.

"Now then," he said returning to Joe. "Perhaps you'd be so kind as to-"

_"Marching Fishes!"_ attacked Gomamon, summoning a barrage of fish from thin air which slammed Gehn into the opposite wall. Gehn slumped against it in obvious pain. Gomamon leapt up onto the pedestal and looked down at Joe.

"Are you all right, Joe?" asked Gomamon urgently.

Joe, from inside the book, looked up at his friend and was about to respond when he saw Gehn's staff come down hard on the back of Gomamon's head, causing him to drop limply from view, unconscious.

"Gomamon!" Joe cried.

"I believe I'll take this specimen along for further study," said Gehn, picking up Gomamon. "As for you... well, you're Atrus' problem now. I, meanwhile, will see if perfection still holds after all these years." And with that, he closed the cover of the book on to the panel, plunging Joe into absolute darkness and absolute silence.

* * *

"Well, that's just great," said Joe to himself, alone in the void of the book. "I get a lucky break and find a nice guy and his wife who offer to help in any way they can and what do I do? I release a lunatic from a book he keeps hidden in his attic and get my digimon kidnapped. Why didn't I just listen to my instincts? But no, someone was all, 'What harm could he do?' and now I'm stuck in a book. I wonder what time it is..."

He tried to look down at his digivice, which was equipped with a watch, but he couldn't see it in the darkness. For that matter, he couldn't tell what direction he was looking in. He tried to search for it, but it was if his hand was nonexistent. In fact, he couldn't feel any part of his body. He was alone with only his own voice. He couldn't even be sure if he was really speaking or if he was only hearing his own thoughts.

Suddenly, the panel appeared once again and he was staring up at Catherine's face.

"Atrus!" she cried. "I found him! Here!"

Atrus came over to the book and stared down at Joe. A look of utter defeat took hold of his features.

"Oh _no," _he gasped. "Joe, what have you done?"

"Atrus?" Joe asked. "I'm sorry, he said he was your father... I only wanted to help."

Atrus looked to Catherine and then closed his eyes, his face wrinkled with worry. Suddenly, Catherine reached across him and pressed her hand against the linking panel.

"Catherine, no!" Atrus cried out, but he was too late. Catherine disappeared from view as Joe materialized in her place.

"Catherine, why did you do it?" Atrus demanded, pleading with Catherine through the book. Joe only stood there in uncomfortable silence.

"We can't let him suffer in the Prison Book," said Catherine. "We didn't tell him the whole story and he didn't know any better."

"Then let me take his place instead!"

"No, Atrus. You are needed to find Gehn. No one knows him better than you."

Atrus was about to protest, but he reluctantly consented. "All right," he said. "I will return later, Catherine." He shut the book, then looked to Joe, his kind eyes now hard.

"Come with me, Joe," said Atrus. "I will explain things on the way."

"On the way where?" Joe asked, following Atrus quickly out of the attic.

"To find Gehn," Atrus said. "If we don't find him soon, the cost may be immeasurable."

* * *

"Gehn is my father," Atrus explained as he and Joe walked briskly to the center of town. "The man is a monster."

"I kinda got that impression, but what do you mean? Why was he in that book?" Joe asked.

"You remember how I told you that the D'ni do not create the worlds within the books?" Atrus asked. Joe nodded. "Gehn is convinced that he _is_ in fact creating those worlds and he believes that it makes him a god. In one way, he admires the D'ni. In another, he despises them. He always talked to me about their power, about their greatness. However, he rebels against the restraining rules the D'ni have set up for writing the books. As a consequence, he has written hundreds of books and is a god to countless civilizations."

"How can he convince the people on those Ages that he's a god?" Joe asked.

"He toys with their world," Atrus said bitterly. "He writes new things into the Ages that causes them to become unstable. Earthquakes, floods, even tears in the fabric of reality. Writing the books is specific. Any contradictions can cause an Age to deteriorate into an unlivable ruin. Catherine's home world was once one of Gehn's Ages. Now, it has been completely destroyed by Gehn's shortsighted egotism."

Joe looked down as he walked alongside Atrus. "I'm sorry, Atrus," Joe said. "I had no idea."

Atrus softened a little. "It is not entirely your fault. I should have told you about him," he said. "You see, the Stranger helped Catherine and myself to capture Gehn in that prison book. It was designed to appear as a Linking Book, but after Gehn had been captured, I couldn't bring myself to destroy it. It would have trapped Gehn inside the Book for the rest of his life, leaving him a prisoner, no longer able to harm any other worlds. Instead, I modified the book so I could communicate with him. He refused to speak to me, but I still kept the book. I should have neutralized the problem when I had the chance."

Joe saw how pained Atrus was by the whole situation. "Everyone makes mistakes," Joe said, offering him a word of consolation. "I think it's great that you were still willing to forgive him even after all the things he's done."

Atrus smiled at the boy, then said, "We're almost there. On the plus side, you get to see something only two other humans have ever seen: the City of D'ni."

* * *

The boat Atrus rowed was made of stone. For that matter, so was everything else in D'ni.

Joe stared in awe at the massive cavern surrounding them. The ceiling was high above them and the whole cavern must have stretched for miles on either side. Buildings were carved into the walls forming intricate streets and districts. Everything was in ruins, but Joe could sense the history about the place. The water Atrus rowed across glowed orange, lighting the whole area.

"The water is filled with microscopic life forms," said Atrus, answering Joe's curiosity. "They're active for about fifteen hours a day. The D'ni day revolved around them before the city was destroyed."

"Where are we going?" Joe asked.

"There," Atrus said, pointing to an island a quarter mile away from them. "The great house on that island is K'veer, an ancient nobleman's house. It's where Gehn's library was located. That is the only place he would logically go."

* * *

"He's definitely been here," Atrus said.

Joe looked inquisitively at Atrus. They were standing in a huge office, complete with a desk similar to Atrus'. Ten books were lined on a shelf near the desk. About thirty Linking Books lay face up on the floor, not one laying on top of another. They were strewn about chaotically, but, Joe sensed, deliberately.

"He scattered these books to throw us off," Atrus said, sighing. "He could have gone into any one of these Ages. It's too dangerous to pursue him further and we have no way of knowing which Age he used."

"What about these?" Joe asked, indicating the books on the shelf.

"Those are Gehn's first ten Ages," Atrus said. "They are still in order. If he had taken one out and linked, he would have had to lay it face up in order to use it correctly. No, only those on the floor could have been the ones."

Joe looked down. Atrus, too, seemed dejected. "Come," he said. "We'll go back to Tomahna and come up with a plan there."

Gomamon opened his eyes wearily. His vision was blurry and his head hurt. He looked up and saw that he was surrounded by metal bars, caged. Over his mouth a gag was placed.

"Hm!" he exclaimed in muffled surprise.

"Awake at last, creature?" asked a familiar voice.

Gomamon looked up to see Gehn, who was sitting at a desk. He had apparently been writing. The two of them were alone in a room that looked to Gomamon to have been made out of wooden poles fashioned crudely together with ropes. Wherever they were, it was a safe bet that it wasn't Releeshahn.

"I've wired that cage to an electric battery," said Gehn. "I'm going to remove your gag so that you and I can have a little chat. If you call your fish friends again, I or the guards I call will electrify your cage and you, my friend, will be in an inordinate amount of pain. Understand?"

Gomamon nodded and Gehn removed the gag from his mouth.

"Okay, you old geezer," started off Gomamon, "what did you do to Joe?"

"The boy?" asked Gehn. "I left him in the Trap Book. I'm sure Atrus won't leave him, there, though I would like to know how he dealt with the problem. In any case, your friend is likely unharmed. Now I would like to ask a question. How are you able to call those fish from seemingly nowhere?"

"I dunno," said Gomamon begrudgingly. "I just can. It's one of my attributes."

"Attributes, eh?" asked Gehn, rather interested. "Well, tell me, what manner of creature are you? Clearly a sea mammal, of course, but what kind of sea mammal that is so intelligent it can talk?"

"I'm a digimon," said Gomamon. "That's about all you need to know."

Gehn seemed a little perturbed by Gomamon halting that line of questioning. "Very well," he said. "I can come back to that issue later. In the meantime, what is your relationship to the boy?"

"Joe's my partner and my best friend," Gomamon said, proudly adding, "and it's my duty to protect him no matter what!"

"Protect him?" asked Gehn, amused. "Well, you didn't do a very good job, then, did you?"

Gomamon growled as Gehn chuckled hollowly.

* * *

Joe laid awake in bed that night back at Atrus' house. It had been discovered that Gehn had stolen one of the Linking Books in D'ni that led back to Releeshahn, but fortunately there were others around that Atrus and he had used to get back. No matter where Gehn was, he now had easy access to Releeshahn.

Joe had never felt quite as alone as he did at that moment. Catherine was still trapped inside the book and refused to let Atrus take her place and Joe sensed that, while Atrus wasn't entirely angry at him, he was no longer extending him the warmth he had at first. Moreover, all the people he really cared about were gone.

The other Digidestined: Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, TK, Mimi, and Kari were all gone, along with their digimon. He worried that they might be in worse positions. Maybe they were okay... and maybe they weren't. And then there was Gomamon...

Joe cringed. That hurt him worse than anything else; that he'd endangered and lost his best friend. Gomamon protected him, risked his neck to save him, respected him when the others may have had their doubts. Even when he had been separated from the others, Gomamon was still by his side. Now, he was by himself, without even his digimon to keep him company.

Joe got out of bed and went to get a drink of water. As he tiptoed into the main hallway, he heard voices coming from Atrus' room. He crept over to the partially shut door to listen.

"So the elders have agreed to help?" he heard Catherine's tiny voice say from the book.

"Yes," said Atrus. "They've arranged to have the Guild of Maintainers look into the situation. They'll assemble a team to inspect each of the Ages Gehn left on the floor."

"I'm sure they'll find him," said Catherine.

"I believe so," said Atrus, "but the other Ages might be dangerous to venture into. And the right one may be booby trapped. You know he's capable of that. He's mad. Remember his rituals, his willingness to discard lives like sheets of paper, the way he named his Ages with numbers, his obsession with the number five? There's the danger that we might lose some brave souls. I've made a Linking Book to Releeshahn myself for the journey. I'm going with them tomorrow at noon. My book is in my office right now."

Joe backed quietly away from the door. So now others among the D'ni were going to risk their lives to correct Joe's mistake.

Joe clenched his fist in determination. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

Standing in Gehn's office on K'veer once again, Joe felt a bit guilty for taking Atrus' Linking Book and going to find Gehn on his own. He hoped that the note he'd left explained things well enough.

"I don't know," Joe said to himself. "Maybe, 'Gone to find Gehn on my own. Took some fruit for a snack. Hope you don't mind. Sincerely, Joe' was a little too _scant._"

He shrugged it off. He believed Atrus would understand and he felt he had to do this, even if it meant risking himself. Even so, he had no idea where to look.

He looked at the books on the floor and couldn't make any sense out of them, then looked to the shelf with Gehn's first ten Ages on them. Atrus had said they were in order. Maybe...

Joe looked at the spines of the books and saw that there was a single character printed on each one instead of a title. He paused to think for a moment. They looked a little short to be words, so maybe...

"They're numbers!" said Joe out loud, realizing it. Of course! Gehn named his Ages with numbers, so these must have the numbers one through ten on them. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it might be useful to learn a little bit about the D'ni numerical system. Perhaps then he could learn something that would help him where Atrus had been at a loss.

He found a piece of paper and noted the symbol for each number. Each one was a symbol inside a box. He noted them down in order: #1- a box halved vertically by a line; #2- a curved line on the left side of the box; #3- a half diamond on the left side; #4- a smaller square in the bottom right corner of the box; #5- a box halved _horizontally _by a line; #6- a box divided into four equal squares; #7- a curve on the left and a horizontal line through the middle; #8- a half diamond and a horizontal line through the middle; #9- a smaller square in the bottom right corner and another horizontal line through the middle; and #10- a curved line on the bottom of the box.

Joe couldn't help but notice the way some of the symbols repeated. For one, the horizontal line of the symbol for five and the curved line for two were repeated in seven...

"Wait a minute," said Joe, thinking. "The symbols for five and two in the same box equal seven. 5 + 2 = 7, so if two symbols are put into one box, that symbol is the sum of their addition!"

Joe was pleased with himself. Izzy would have been proud, he thought. Still, there was something else he was still missing.

The symbols for a few of the numbers seemed similar. One and five were close, as were two and ten. They were the same symbols except that they had been rotated ninety degrees counter-clockwise, as if the boxes had been turned. There had to be a connection.

"Five!" Joe said out loud. "One rotated is five and two rotated is ten. If the numbers are rotated, they get multiplied by five! One times five is five, two times five is ten! I've got it!"

Joe's jubilant voice echoed throughout the office and reverberated out into the empty cavern, across the water to the ancient city. With his arms raised in triumph, Joe looked ready to take on the world. Then, he put his arms down and scowled.

"Okay brain," Joe said. "That was great and everything, but how does that help me find Gehn?"

As if in answer, his brain pulled out two memories of things he had heard recently. The first was Gehn, saying, _"I, meanwhile, will see if perfection still holds after all these years." _The second was Atrus, mentioning, _"...his obsession with the number five..."_

Joe's mind was racing now. Atrus said Gehn wouldn't have used the Age Five book, but he might have used one of the books on the floor with a number that was a multiple of five. He could read the numbers on each of the books and eliminated all but two. Twenty and twenty-five.

What did Gehn mean by perfection? He had a gut feeling it had something to do with numbers, but maybe twenty was a perfect number to the D'ni. But why wasn't Gehn interested in that number instead of five? No, he was convinced it had something to do with five, but what?

Joe closed his eyes and concentrated. He would only get one shot at this, so he had to be sure.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, inspiration hit him: "Perfect square!" he said. "Five squared is twenty-five! That's Gehn's perfection!"

Without further hesitation, Joe opened the Age Twenty-five book and linked.

Joe sucked in a breath as he once again found himself in his body. "That will never stop making me nauseous," he said to himself.

His vision cleared and he found himself in a grove of trees atop a hill. He stepped out to get the lay of the land . . . and was suddenly surrounded by men in ragged clothes, all of whom were pointing spears at him.

"Whoa! Easy! I surrender!" Joe said raising his hands above his head, showing he was unarmed.

Many of the men looked to each other, none of whom were really sure what to make of the small, scrawny boy in front of them. Even so, they kept their spears trained on him every second.

"Tagemah so Rekoha!" said the leader of them.

"What?" asked Joe.

"Tagemah so Rekoha!" repeated the man, not sure of himself. "Rekoha! Rekoha!"

"I don't know what you're saying!" Joe cried as the men began to advance on him. The leader gave up speaking and went to Joe. After a brief search, he found the Linking Book to Releeshahn in Joe's vest.

"Oh, the book!" Joe said. "Go ahead, that's fine. Uh, have any of you seen Gehn?"

Many of the men took a step back at Gehn's name and the leader grabbed Joe roughly. Spears dangerously close to his body, they escorted him down into the village.

* * *

"Hello?" Joe called from inside the small prison hut. "Can I please get some water? A sip will be fine, I'm just a little parched!"

Joe sighed. No one was coming. No one was listening. He was trapped inside a cage of wooden poles, padlocked inside, and held in a hut with no windows. It looked like his adventure was over, and he expected Gehn to come through the door any minute to tell him his fate.

"Well, at least I got the right Age," he said sarcastically. Just then, the door to the hut opened. However, it was not Gehn that stood there, but a woman with graying black hair in a simple, but fancy dress.

"Shorah. Terakoi D'ni?" she asked.

"Huh?" Joe asked back.

The woman looked puzzled then tried again. "Can you understand now?"

"Yes!" cried Joe. "I can understand you!"

The woman did not share Joe's enthusiasm. "Who are you? You aren't D'ni, or else you would speak their language. Instead, you speak one of the other languages Gehn speaks."

"My name's Joe," he said. "I'm looking for Gehn."

"Why?" the woman asked.

Joe thought for a moment, trying to come up with the safest answer. "Because he took my friend, Gomamon," said Joe.

"The talking creature?" asked the woman. "The white one with red hair?"

"Yes!" said Joe.

"How do I know you really come from the same place as Gehn?" she asked, somewhat suspicious.

Joe was puzzled. He searched for something to prove that he was from the same place and found something in his pocket, bringing it out. It was the same bright sphere he had found in Atrus' attic.

"A Fire Marble!" said the woman, impressed. Then, her voice quieter, she went over to Joe's cell and began to unlock the cage. "Keep quiet. I'm going to help you out of here."

* * *

"Gehn appeared many years ago, but he ceased to come over thirty years ago," said the woman. "It is my conclusion that we are better off without him."

The woman, who said her name was Mora, had taken Joe to Gehn's office on this Age. Gehn was nowhere in sight, nor was Gomamon.

"I was his linguist," said Mora. "And when he appeared and made the claim that he was a god, few doubted him because of his technology, the wondrous devices he brought. However, when some voiced their doubt, Gehn became infuriated. He said that he would unleash his wrath upon us. Soon after, he left and a great series of storms set in. They destroyed many of our crops and left us with barely enough to eat. Our home became more and more harsh as Gehn stayed longer and longer. After he left, we managed to bring prosperity back to our people. Now that he has returned, many fear that he will only bring destruction again."

"Why did he come back here?" Joe asked.

"I believe it was for the Deus," said Mora. "A machine that he had us build years ago. None of us dared to tamper with it in all the years he was away. He came here and told us to disassemble it and that we would reassemble it in a world filled with 'devil people.'"

Joe swallowed. "What kind of machine is it?" he asked.

"A great machine, with powerful weapons," Mora said. "It was built to destroy a whole village and our men have been taking the Deus apart and reassembling it all day yesterday and today. Gehn took them all to the world I spoke of . I believe I heard him call it Releeshahn."

Joe swallowed. "Did he take my friend with him?" asked Joe.

"I'm afraid so," said Mora. "He had a book that led to Releeshahn, but he copied it so that he could build the machine a safe distance away from the devil people."

"Mora," called a guard from outside, one who'd helped Joe escape. "The men are returning. Without Lord Gehn. He said he would return after he dealt with the devils."

Mora, distressed, looked to Joe. She carried a bag with her and took Joe's Linking Book from inside it and handed it to him. "You must get back and warn your friends."

"Come with me," said Joe. "You and the guard might be in trouble for helping me, so come along."

Mora hesitated for a moment, then, with a slight nod, she complied, alerting the guard.

* * *

Joe materialized in the heart of Releeshahn. He had made it back. Mora and the guard shimmered into being behind him when a familiar voice cried out, "Joe!"

Joe turned to face the speaker. It was Atrus.

"Atrus!" said Joe, running over to Atrus, who was standing with a group of men, all holding Linking Books. "We've got to get ready! Gehn's coming!"

"Gehn?" asked Atrus. "What do you mean? Where did you go?"

Suddenly, a sound like a horn was heard coming from the far side of Releeshahn. It was high, rolling, and clearly urgent.

"The alarm," Atrus said, looking up. "That would mean we are under attack. But what-"

"The Deus," said Mora, stepping over to Atrus. "Gehn has come to destroy this place."

* * *

"By Kerath," whispered Atrus. They were atop the Releeshahn library and Atrus was looking through a powerful telescope at the hills to the east of the city. He saw with growing horror that a massive machine was creeping over the mountain and down toward the city, looking like a low, creeping beast. It was gigantic, with four long legs that moved with hydraulics. The body was armed with bomb launchers, a windshield, and a control panel that Atrus could see was being vigorously operated by his father. Gehn pulled a lever and an object was tossed from the back of the machine. The object hit the nearest houses and exploded, destroying them. Thankfully, most of the town had heard the alarm and was rushing towards the city's center.

Joe looked next. He saw the same thing as Atrus, but also something else, bound and gagged and in a cage behind Gehn: "Gomamon!"

"We must flee," said Atrus to the men with him. "We have no weapons to fight such an enemy."

The men all stared down dejectedly. "And we had only just now gotten settled here in this Age," Atrus said. "Now, we must separate and try to hold on."

"No," said Joe suddenly, almost to himself. "I can stop him."

Before anyone had a chance to say anything, Joe had leapt down the stairs of the library and was sprinting madly towards the machine that threatened to destroy them all. He ran as hard as he could, past the people running in the opposite direction, putting more and more distance between himself and the people who were still calling for him to come back.

Joe arrived at the far end of the village and was amazed at the sheer size of the Deus. The bottom part of the body of it was at least thirty feet off the ground and the ground shook as each one of its massive legs came crashing down. Gehn was at the open-air cockpit, furiously pulling a multitude of levers and switches, piloting the machine skillfully. He used its legs to crush house after house as it moved forward rapidly. The machine hissed as the hydraulics in the legs shifted, raising one leg and balancing on another. For such an enormous machine, its movements were graceful. Again Joe found himself thinking it resembled a predatory beast.

"Gehn!" shouted Joe. "Down here!"

Gehn turned the machine to face the small boy. He smiled and raised a megaphone to his mouth to address him. "Hello, dear boy," he said. "Out of the book, I see."

"That's right," said Joe. "Which means there's room for you inside it!" He hoped that sounded convincing enough.

Gehn grinned coldly. "Brave words from a brave boy," said Gehn, raising one of the machine's legs. "A very brave and very _foolish _boy!"

The leg came down to crush Joe, but this was what he had been planning on. He leapt back a millisecond before the wide, metal foot smashed into the hard earth, forming a small crater a mere foot from where Joe now stood. Joe took a deep breath and jumped onto the leg, attempting to climb it.

"Sly move, my friend," said Gehn. "But ultimately futile and pathetic." He shook the leg and Joe held on for dear life, but eventually it flung him off, high into the air. Joe landed on the windshield of the machine, only a few feet from Gehn and the controls.

"How revolting," said Gehn, making a face as Joe's face pressed against the windshield. "I can never go out for a ride without having some disgusting insect splattering all over the windshield. No matter." He pulled out a pistol and aimed it levelly at Joe. "I know how to get it off."

Joe rolled just as Gehn fired. To both of their surprises, however, the entire windshield shattered, dumping Joe into the cockpit. Gehn was momentarily distracted as shards of glass flew about everywhere, forcing him to stand up from his pilot's seat and stop the machine. "Those blasted natives! They must have cut corners on the glass!"

"Jmph!" Gomamon tried to cry out, seeing his partner through the bars of his cage.

"Gomamon!" said Joe, getting up and grabbing Gomamon's cage. "Are you okay?"

"Not for long, he isn't," said Gehn as he reloaded another bullet into his pistol. Joe looked to Gomamon and then made a bold move: he leapt over the side of the cockpit and tried to slide down one of the hydraulic legs. Unfortunately, the leg was at a steep angle and the pair of them bounced off and landed hard on the ground, tumbling away from the Deus. Gomamon's cage broke apart and spilled him onto the ground next to his partner.

"Gomamon, are you all right?" Joe asked, the breath knocked out of him.

"Fine," said Gomamon weakly. "But... I can't fight him. I'm too weak and I haven't had anything to eat in a day."

"Hey, why did I get the Crest of Reliability?" asked Joe, pulling out the small piece of fruit he'd put in his pocket last night. Gomamon took it and ate it eagerly.

"Hold still!" Gehn shouted, bringing another leg of the Deus' down, trying to crush them both. They scrambled and narrowly avoided the leg, but the force from it being brought down sent them both flying into the rubble of a destroyed house.

"Joe!" cried Gomamon, seeing him land roughly on top of the wood. And even as he said it, Joe's digivice began to glow.

_"Gomamon digivolve to..."_ Gomamon began to glow as well and Gehn stopped his attack, watching with fascination as the tiny creature seemed to melt, grow larger, and reappear in front of him. _"...Ikkakumon!"_

"What is this?" Gehn asked, awestruck.

_"Harpoon Torpedo!"_ attacked Ikkakumon, sending a homing missile at the Deus. The missile blew off a leg causing the machine to careen and pitch wildly as scraps of metal flew in every direction.

Gehn struggled to keep the Deus upright, but managed to do so. Compensating for its odd balance without one of its limbs, he maneuvered the Deus to face the champion digimon.

"Impressive," granted Gehn. "But it's my move now." He pressed a button and sent a bomb hurtling towards Ikkakumon and Joe.

"Joe!" Ikkakumon cried, throwing his massive, hairy body in front of Joe's, absorbing the blast. The bomb went off and the digimon let out a cry of pain as he was burned and pummeled by the explosion. Joe moved out of the way as Ikkakumon toppled over.

"Ikkakumon, are you all right?" Joe asked, seeing his partner singed and battered.

"Forget the walrus, boy," said Gehn. "I'm keeping it for dissection later on. Worry about yourself and get out of my sight before I finish you off."

Joe stared hard at Gehn. "No," said Joe calmly. "You're my mistake, my problem, and it's my job to stop you myself."

"Actually, your mistake is foolish heroism," said Gehn, pressing a button to load another bomb. He neglected to notice, however, that a strange cross shape had begun to glow on Joe's chest. He also neglected to notice that Ikkakumon had once again began to glow and reform.

The launcher fired another bomb when a massive, gray clawed hand merely swatted it away, causing it to explode harmlessly in the air. "All right, Zudomon!" Joe exclaimed triumphantly.

"Where did _that _come from?" Gehn asked, in awe of the enormous shelled creature.

Zudomon said nothing, but merely seized the front leg of the Deus and peered down at its pilot, an angry scowl on his face. Gehn swallowed.

_"Vulcan's Hammer!"_ Zudomon attacked, bringing the tremendous hammer down onto the Deus, destroying it and throwing Gehn from it to land roughly on the ground.

Amid the wreckage, Zudomon reverted to Gomamon and ran over to Joe who stood straight as an arrow.

"Joe!" called a voice. It was Atrus. "I don't believe my eyes. You did it." Joe looked and saw him standing near Gehn's unconscious form. "You defeated Gehn. You and your friend have saved Releeshahn! You've saved us all!"

"Well, don't just stand there, Joe," said Gomamon. "Say something! You're a hero, pal!"

Joe stood there a moment, an odd look on his face. He looked to the wreckage of the Deus. He looked at the rubble of the abandoned houses. He looked to Atrus and Gehn and Gomamon and he opened his mouth to speak.

Then, without a word, he closed it and fainted, falling face first on the ground.

"Aw, Joe, not again!" said Gomamon. He turned to Atrus. "You'll have to forgive him, Atrus. He doesn't handle being a hero well."

"Apparently not," said Atrus, trying not to laugh.

* * *

"Catherine and I both owe you a debt of gratitude," said Atrus, with Catherine back at his side.

"Not really," said Joe. "I was just trying to make up for letting Gehn out in the first place."

"Perhaps," said Catherine. "But you risked your life to do it. Your willingness to sacrifice yourself is a sign of great friendship and loyalty."

"And furthermore, Mora's people are better off because of you," added Atrus. "Perhaps they will join with our society someday. In any case, you helped her. She is among friends now, away from Gehn's followers."

"I suppose you're right," said Joe. "I just wish that, amid all this excitement, we'd found a way home for me and Gomamon."

"Cheer up, Joe," said Gomamon. "Something always comes along at the last minute."

"Oh yeah, like what?" Joe asked. As if in answer, the digivice beeped and a voice entered the room.

"Joe? Are you there? Joe, come in," said Izzy's voice.

"Izzy!" exclaimed Joe. "Hey, it's great to hear from you! Where are you?"

"Never mind that," said Izzy. "I know how to get you home. I'll spare you the details, but all you have to do is find a computer screen and, while in physical contact with Gomamon, touch your digivice to it."

"Is that it? No problem!" said Joe happily.

"Good," said Izzy, relieved. "And remember. Unless every one of us gets to a computer, no one can go home, so make sure you get to one safely. Izzy out."

"We're saved!" said Joe, jumping up, tossing Gomamon up in the air jubilantly. "Atrus! Catherine! Where's your nearest computer?"

Atrus looked at Joe, puzzled. "Computer?" he asked. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Joe looked at him. "A computer. You know, a machine that keeps track of data?" he asked. Receiving blank stares, he went on. "You can type things on it, download music, look up information, write stupid fanfiction, come on you know!"

Atrus and Catherine looked at each other. "I'm afraid that we haven't had any contact with machines that keep track of data in years," Atrus said. "And I have no idea how to build one. I'm sorry, Joe."

Joe sat down heavily on the couch, Gomamon taking a seat next to him. "Great," Joe said with a sigh. "I'm with a civilization of people who can travel to distant planets and bend the rules of time and space but they can't even build an Apple IIe. Just our luck."

Catherine seemed deep in thought. She suddenly looked up and said, "Wait!" Atrus and the others stared at her. "I believe I know where we can find what you're looking for."

* * *

The ancient D'ni chamber was covered in moss, but the old machine turned on without incident when Catherine pushed a button.

"Using this machine was forbidden, due to the unpredictable nature of the Ages it linked to," said Catherine, "but the archives do say that it had the ability to remember several Books worth of data. This may be the only computer that the D'ni ever built, Joe."

The machine rattled and hummed loudly. It was a large steel box with many odd buttons on it. It had a screen which was blurred by static. However, it did look remotely like a computer.

"What does it do?" Joe asked.

"It creates a link without the use of Books," said Catherine. "It was thought that it might save on the destruction of the trees used to make the Books, but conservation efforts eventually made the problem obsolete, so it was abandoned. Since it has a screen and it can contain data in a... digital form, if that's the word, I believe that you may use it to return home."

"A word of caution, however," said Atrus, jumping in. "When you touch that screen, don't touch it with your fingers. If you have direct physical contact, you could be sucked into a bizarre world from which there is no visible return."

"Hey, story of my life," joked Joe, cracking a smile.

Atrus and Catherine smiled back and wished him luck.

Joe held his digivice up to the screen and prepared to touch the digivice to it.

"Hey, Joe," whispered Gomamon, "are you sure that this thing won't suck us into another world anyway, even if you don't use your fingers?"

"Sure, I'm sure," said Joe.

"Are you sure you're sure you're sure?" Gomamon asked carefully.

"Nope." said Joe, and pressed the digivice into the screen.

**To be continued...**


	5. Totomon, I Don't Think We're in Kansas

_(Fun fact: if you play Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' while reading this chapter, you'll find the music matches up with the action perfectly! _

_Okay, that's a lie, but kudos to you if you get the joke. In any case, after this comes the final world of this series! In the meantime, please enjoy this **incredibly** stupid chapter. **-Thinker)**_

**SCATTERED, Part 5**

**"Totomon, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore"**

**or**

**"The Mimi Witch Project"**

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" asked the woman in the pink gown.

"Nothing, if you're going to a costume ball," said Mimi, eyeing her with sharp disapproval. "I mean, for Halloween that's fine, but for walking around in broad daylight? Come on!"

"Mimi, be nice, we're strangers here," whispered Kari.

"Yeah, try not to make the fairy angry," agreed Gatomon. Reluctantly, Mimi ceased her criticism on the woman's dress.

"Well, where was I?" the woman in pink asked herself. "Oh yes! Are you good witches or bad witches?"

"What makes you think we're witches?" asked Kari, wondering if it had anything to do with Mimi's attitude.

"Well, you're obviously some kind of enchantress," said the woman. "After all, you're being advised by a talking cat!"

"Advised by a cat?" asked Mimi half to herself. "Wow, Kari, you're like Sailor Moon!"

"Huh?" asked Kari, Gatomon, Palmon, and the woman in pink in unison.

"You know, Usagi? Luna? Sailor Moon?" Mimi questioned. After receiving only blank stares, however, she gave up.

"Well, anyway, we're not witches," said Palmon, taking the initiative. "These girls are Mimi and Kari. I'm Palmon, this is Gatomon, and we're their digimon."

"Oh," said the woman in pink. "Are you from Kansas, by any chance?"

"No, Tokyo," said Kari.

"Oh," said the woman, falling silent after that. "Well, whoever you are, whatever you are, I'm Glenda, the Good Witch of the North, and welcome to the Land of Oz."

"Is that near Russia?" asked Mimi.

"Um, I don't think so," said Glenda.

"Hey, there sure are a lot of small houses around here," Gatomon remarked, changing the subject.

"That's because you're in Munchkin Land, a tiny town for tiny people," said Glenda. "It's all right!" she called. "They're not evil! The one in the hat is kind of a bitch, though."

"Hey!"

Suddenly, all the doors on all the small houses in the village flew open and a horde of tiny villagers came out, none of whom were bigger than three feet tall. Kari, Gatomon, and Palmon all seemed somewhat delighted to see the tiny people with cheery faces and small suits with their curious, squeaky voices as they came up to meet the newcomers. Mimi, however, was momentarily freaked out.

"Augh!" she screamed. "Trolls! Hundreds of them!"

"Don't worry, they're harmless," said Glenda, placating the nervous girl.

"Hello, my dear," said one of the munchkins, who was wearing a green suit with a tall green hat to Kari. "I am the mayor of the Munchkin City." He tipped his hat respectfully to the four of them.

"My name is Kari," she said, bowing respectfully. "These are my friends Mimi, Palmon, and Gatomon."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Gatomon, holding out one clawed hand.

"Augh! A talking cat! They _are_ witches! Burn them! _Burn them all!_" screamed the mayor.

* * *

It wasn't until a half hour later that Glenda finally got everyone familiarized enough to stop being afraid of each other.

"Sorry about the misunderstanding," said the mayor, "but we're just very jumpy when it comes to the subject of witches. We've had a lot of bad experiences. In any case, you are more than welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Well, thanks," said Kari, "but we'd really just like to get home, if that's okay with you."

"We understand," said Glenda. "We only know of two ways to leave Oz, unfortunately. The first is by hot air balloon."

"Oh that sounds fun! Do you have a hot air balloon?" asked Mimi.

"No."

"Darn it!"

"The other way home," said Glenda, "is by using a pair of ruby slippers."

"Do you have a pair of those?" asked Mimi.

"No."

"Well, who does?" asked Mimi, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Her!" Glenda shouted, pointing high in the air. The two Digidestined and their digimon turned to see a woman in black riding on a broomstick, cackling madly as she flew overhead.

"Oh shit, she's back! Hit the dirt!" yelled the mayor in his squeaky Spongebob-esque voice. The munchkins all ducked and covered as the witch threw bombs that exploded in brightly colored, sulfur-smelling smoke.

"Yuck, I hate that smell!" said Mimi as she also took cover.

When it was over, everyone stood up as Glenda explained the situation.

"A girl from a place called Kansas used the ruby slippers last to return to her home," she explained, brushing her dress off. "The slippers give their wearer magic powers. The citizens of Oz then auctioned off the shoes to the highest bidder. Unfortunately they sold it to _her. _It seems pretty stupid in hindsight, really."

"You sold them to a wicked witch?" asked Kari.

"Yeah, ha ha... like I said, hindsight. And, technically, she's not really a 'Wicked' Witch. We used to have a Wicked Witch of the East, but she was crushed by a falling house," said Glenda.

"Eww!" said Mimi.

"And then there was the Wicked Witch of the West, who got melted," continued Glenda.

"EWWW!" said Mimi. "What kind of dimension did we get sucked into, Kari?"

"The witch you just saw was the Irritable Witch of the South," said Glenda, ignoring Mimi. "She hasn't turned anybody into anything or eaten any children or anything like that, she's just..." here she shot a glance at Mimi, "very annoying. She drops smoke bombs on the Munchkin City every so often and that's about it."

"Why does she do that?" Kari asked.

"Who knows?" the mayor said, dusting himself off. "Probably that time of the month."

"Sounds like kind of a pushover for a witch," said Gatomon.

"Don't be too sure," said Glenda. "Since getting the ruby slippers she's become much more powerful and would be very difficult to defeat."

"Well, we can still beat her!" said Mimi. "With our digimon with us, we can't lose!"

"That's the spirit, Mimi!" encouraged Palmon.

"Well, if you want to get to her castle, you'll have to follow that road over there," Glenda said, pointing to a set of brick roads spiraling out from the center of the village.

"You mean the yellow brick road?" asked Kari.

"No, the pink one," said Glenda.

"Ooh, pretty!" said Mimi.

As Glenda turned back into a glowing bubble and floated away, the four of them started off down the pink brick road. The munchkins, meanwhile, began to sing a song as they walked out of town:

_Follow the pink brick road,_

_Follow the pink brick road,_

_Follow the, follow the, follow the, follow the,_

_Follow the pink brick road _

"Hey, quit singing that dumb song!" yelled Mimi, as they left the village behind.

* * *

The ancient castle was built among rocks and cliffs in the wasteland of Oz. Only a few gnarled and thorny vines grew in this otherwise barren wasteland. The sky was constantly a ruddy shade of red in this part of Oz, for some reason. I'm guessing ambience. The wind howled over the canyons in the surrounding area and that was the only sound, save for the marching chant of the castle guards and the occasional cackling from the castle's owner: the Irritable Witch of the South.

Even as Mimi, Kari, and company made their way towards the witch's castle, she watched them in the murky depths of her crystal ball.

"I love this crystal ball," said the witch to herself. "Not only can I watch my enemies without their knowing, but I can use it to pirate HBO! Still, none of my potions or magic devices are as powerful as _these " _She lifted the hem of her long, black dress and examined her bright red ruby slippers as they sparkled in the dim torchlight of her castle.

"That's why those little pretties aren't going to get these shoes!" said the witch decisively, watching Kari and Mimi carefully. "I think I'll save them the trouble of coming here to be destroyed and get it over with now!"

She threw her head back and cackled. "Ahhahahahaha- ooh, ow, damn cramps. Guards, fetch me some Midol!"

* * *

"You know now that we have some time to relax," said Palmon, "maybe we should talk, Mimi."

"About what?" Mimi asked. They'd been walking along the pink brick road for quite a while and were now entering a large forest. They'd all found Oz to be a beautiful place, with rolling fields of grass, lush trees, bright flowers and, of course, the multicolored brick roads. They also found a talking scarecrow tied to a pole in a field, but elected to leave him there after he jokingly asked them about the last time they saw someone hung as well as him. (Kari, fortunately, did not get it.)

"Well," said Palmon, "I wanted to apologize for not saying something to you before you got on the train last month, when we thought you were leaving for good."

"Oh, that's okay!" Mimi said brightly. "Besides, at least we got to say goodbye anyway. I'm not sure what I would've done if you hadn't decided to chase the train after all."

Palmon smiled. She felt redeemed by Mimi's forgiveness, even though she knew she'd had it all along. Even so, hearing it from her made it seem all the more real.

Kari and Gatomon were behind the two of them. They were engaged in a somewhat similar conversation.

"So, looks like you were right," said Gatomon.

"About what?" asked Kari.

"About it being goodbye 'for now,'" said Gatomon. "You said we'd see each other again and here we are! How do you know this stuff?"

"What stuff?" asked Kari.

"Mystic stuff," replied Gatomon. "You can hear beings that none of the others can hear, you knew about the Digiworld without even going there, and you knew for sure that we'd meet again. How?"

Kari shrugged. "Beats me," she said, laughing it off. "Probably because the plot demands-"

Just then, there was a loud bang followed by a flash, and a cloud of smoke appeared in the trees.

"Eek! What's that?" cried Mimi urgently, pointing at the smoke.

"That's smoke, dearie," said the witch, emerging from the smoke, standing on a tree branch thirty yards away from them. "And I am-"

"Eek! What's that?" Mimi cried again.

"Er... I am the Irritable Witch of the South!" She cackled menacingly, her hollow voice echoing in the still forest.

"What are you wearing?" Mimi asked, a disgusted look on her face.

"I... I beg your pardon?" the witch asked confused.

"An all black dress that goes all the way down to your feet? And that crooked pointy hat is a disaster!" Mimi said, clicking into her fashion-savvy mode.

"Hey, it's not all that bad! This is perfectly witchy attire!" said the witch defensively.

"Mimi, you're going to make her angry!" Kari warned her.

Mimi wasn't listening though. "And just look at your nails! Those are way too long and way too sharp looking. And the hair? Uck!" She made a gagging gesture. "You need some Herbal Essences and fast! How can you even go outside looking like that? What you need is-"

"Enough!" the witch shrieked. "You two have just reached the end of this road."

"Actually," Palmon said, "it looks like it goes on for a while long-"

"I meant figuratively! And now, as a demonstration of my power, I'll avoid getting my hands dirty and just have my henchmen finish you off for me!"

She snapped her fingers and in two more flashes and puffs of smoke stood two menacing creatures. The first was wearing a green, pointy cap and had pointy ears. He was green all over and wore a green suit of linen. He had an axe in one hand and a bag of jack o'lanterns slung onto his back. The second was a large creature that was covered in long, white fur. He had sharp teeth and red eyes and stood stooped over like an ape.

"These are two of my favorite henchmen, my little pretties," said the witch. "This," she said, pointing to the one in green, "is the Oz Goblin. He is-"

"Eek! What's that?" Mimi cried, pointing again.

The witch stared at her and heaved a long sigh. "This is the Oz Goblin. He is the agent of evil in the forest and many a little girl has wandered into his domain never to return."

"Pleased to meet you," said Oz Goblin, grinning evilly.

"His companion - and don't _say anything_ this time - is the Flea-Bitten Yeti of the Ozian Mountains," said the witch. "I've nicknamed him Boopsie. He eats unwary travelers like you for breakfast, and that's _not_ just an expression."

"Me getting hungry," growled Boopsie.

"Goblin, Boopsie, these are the girls who are after my shoes and who insulted me," said the witch. "Now that you've been introduced, kill them."

And the two monsters rushed at their prey.

The Oz Goblin ran at Kari, his axe raised to chop the girl in two. Gatomon leapt in front of her partner and raised her claws defensively. "Time to chop you down to size, kitty," said the goblin, still running at them both.

Gatomon said nothing but only jumped into the air and attacked. _"Lightning Paw!"_ she cried, slashing the surprised goblin across the face with astonishing speed. The goblin stumbled back, but quickly reached into his bag and removed a jack o'lantern. It caught on fire in his hands and he hurled it at Gatomon. She jumped just in time, but the pumpkin exploded and sent her back to land awkwardly, harshly on her side.

"Gatomon, are you okay?" Kari asked, running to her side. The goblin saw his opportunity and flung another flaming lantern at the girl. Gatomon saw him in time, however, and immediately got on her feet and used her long, bracelet-clasped tail to whip the pumpkin back into his face. Clearing pieces of burning pumpkin from his face, Gatomon rushed him, pouncing and planting her fist hard into his abdomen. The goblin was amazed at the strength of the tiny creature as he slammed backward into a tree from the force, causing his bag of lanterns to be crushed and his axe to go flying out of his hand.

"No one messes with _my _Digidestined," said Gatomon threateningly to the goblin, showing her claws. "You just volunteered to be my new scratching post."

Meanwhile, Mimi was facing the yeti named Boopsie, who charged at her ferociously with the intent of breaking every single one of her bones.

"I've got him!" said Palmon, stepping in front of Mimi. "Palmon digivolve to Togemon!"

Boopsie stopped in his tracks as he saw the huge boxing glove-wearing cactus towering before him. The witch was also impressed and watched them all closely.

"Still want to fight, furball?" Togemon taunted.

Boopsie hesitated for a second, then, avoiding her needles, punched Togemon in her chin. Or... that is, the spot where her chin would have been if she'd had one. She toppled backwards and Mimi scrambled to get out of the way. Seeing her unprotected, Boopsie stepped around the fallen Togemon and advanced toward Mimi.

"Boopsie smash girly girl!" the yeti roared, beating his chest like a gorilla, while Mimi raised her arm defensively, expecting the worst.

"Hey! Boopsie!" a voice called. Boopsie turned to see Togemon on her feet again, glaring down at him. "Nice love tap. Now it's my turn." With that she nailed Boopsie with a left hook that sent him sailing though the air to land roughly in the center of the pink brick road.

"Boopsie mangle!" the yeti said, getting to his feet, readying for another charge.

"You don't look so good," Togemon remarked. "You should try on of those new age treatments: **acupuncture**. _Needle Spray!"_

A shower of needles fell onto Boopsie, turning him into a white, hairy pin cushion. He fell back groaning and hit the brick road once again, this time for good.

The witch gritted her teeth as Togemon de-digivolved.

"These kids obviously have greater powers than I thought," said the witch to herself. "I could get hurt fighting these brats and they'd cream my other henchmen. I've got to strategize if I'm going to be rid of them."

The witch shook off her momentary disbelief and addressed the two Digidestined out loud. "Okay, you may have won this round," she said, snapping her fingers again, causing her henchmen to vanish in two more puffs of smoke, "but you can count on dealing with me again!" With a sinister cackle she vanished as well, leaving the two girls and two digimon to contemplate her parting words.

"Fights with ugly monsters and evil villains threatening us," said Palmon. "Just like old times, huh Mimi?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, no kidding!" said Mimi, wiping her brow with a pink handkerchief.

* * *

"Let's see," said the witch, back at her castle as she searched her closet. "Poisons, charms, gris-gris... no none of these will work! I need something more potent!"

She went back to her crystal ball and watched the two girls bitterly. "No one insults me," she said. "I'll make them pay dearly for that. But how? What would be the best way to dispose of them?"

Suddenly, she remembered where the trail they were on would lead them. "Of course!" she exclaimed, changing the view in the ball to the place she had remembered. "The poppy field! I'll enchant those poppies and when they get a good whiff they'll fall asleep and after a week of being unable to wake up they'll waste away like Calvin Klein models!" She cackled and set about casting her spell.

* * *

"Kari, hold on!" Mimi called, huffing being her and Gatomon.

"What is it?" asked Kari.

"I've got to take a rest," said Mimi. "I just need some time to relax my feet. They're killing me!"

Kari knew what she meant. Even though she was a more able walker than Mimi, she didn't have a lot of endurance and now that they were out of the woods they had less shade and she was getting hot.

"Yeah, I could use a break, too," she said.

"I need a drink of water," said Palmon. "I heard a stream a ways off. I'll just get a drink and be right back." With hardly a word more, she turned and headed off in the direction of the stream.

Mimi, meanwhile, had found a spot for the rest of them to lie down to the side of the road: a massive field of red flowers.

"They smell awfully sweet," said Kari, almost overwhelmed by the flowers' aroma as she laid down.

"Yeah," said Mimi, yawning. "They're really pretty too."

"Don't mind me if I take a catnap," said Gatomon, falling asleep. Soon, all three of them were asleep.

And while they slept, the poppies worked their magic on their minds, giving them odd, opiate-induced dreams

* * *

**GATOMON'S DREAM:**

Gatomon floated on her back in the ocean of milk, as happy tuna fish sandwiches leaped over her. She sipped from a glass of catnip tea she kept in a floating coozy next to her. The sun was a golden ball of yarn that rolled its way lazily across the sky.

Finally, she reached the beach, where a sign was posted that said "No Dogs Allowed." She walked up the beach and into the open-air restaurant where a mouse dressed as a waiter walked up to her.

"Hello, Ms. Gatomon," said the mouse. "Welcome to Catmandu. Is there something you'd like to eat?"

"Yes," said Gatomon. "You."

"Certainly madam," said the mouse. "Is there some way you'd like me prepared?"

"No, I'll take you as is," said Gatomon. The mouse nodded politely as Gatomon picked him up by the tail and popped him her mouth, swallowing him. "I _love _the service here," she said, licking her paw.

"Hey, we've got a special guest today at Catmandu, folks," said the MC on the stage. "Everybody welcome Mr. Ted Nugent!"

"Yeah! Go Sweaty Teddy!" said Gatomon as Nugent played "Cat Scratch Fever." For the last verse, he called Gatomon up on stage.

* * *

**KARI'S DREAM:**

Kari stood in the dark, torch-lit dungeon, facing the tremendous dragon-like turtle before her. She was wearing a blue shirt, red overalls, and a red hat with a K on it. She also had a mustache. Her brother was behind her and was looking much the same, except that he was wearing green in place of red.

"I am Bowser!" bellowed, the reptilian creature. "And there's no way you can beat me!"

"Yes-a there is! Isn't that-a right, Taigi?" she asked.

"That's Mama Taigi to you!" he said with a wheeze. "And that's-a right!"

"After all," she said, "we're the SUPER KARIO BROTHERS!" That said, they leaped at the creature, ready to save Princess Peach.

* * *

**MIMI'S DREAM:**

Mimi found herself facing a multitude of her adoring fans as she stood on the stage with her band. She smiled and waved to them as they prepared to play their next number.

"Okay, this is our last encore!" she said. "We've got a show in Toronto tomorrow, so we're only doing one more song!"

The crowd begged for more, but cheered that they were going to play one more song anyway. She looked back at her band and named them off to the crowd. "On harmonica, Yamato Ishida! On drums, Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi! On lead guitar, Taichi Kamiya! On bass guitar, Joe Kido! And me, Mimi Tachikawa on lead vocals!"

The crowd went wild, and as they did, they began their final song, one which featured Matt doing an amazing harmonica solo. Mimi stepped up to the mic and began to sing her personal favorite song:

_Pink; it's my new obsession._

_Pink; it's not even a question._

_Pink; on the lips of your lover._

_'Cause Pink is the love you discover._

_Pink as the bing on your cherry._

_Pink, 'cause you are so very _

_Pink; it's the color of passion,_

_'Cause today, it just goes with the fashion!_

_**Chorus:**_

_Pink; it was love at first site!_

_Pink; when I turn out the light!_

_And Pink gets me high as a kite!_

_And I think everything is going to be all right_

_No matter what we do tonight!_

As she finished the song, Mimi took off the scarf she had been wearing and tossed it to her adoring fans. The crowd went wild and began chanting "Mi-mi! Mi-mi! Mi-mi!" as she blew them all kisses and the band walked off stage, unplugging their instruments. Tomorrow, they'd do another show and it would be this way for at least another month. That's what happened when you were a famous rock star, though...

* * *

"Oh my goodness!" cried Palmon. "They're all out cold! But how?"

She had come back from the stream and discovered her three friends flat on their backs and unresponsive as she shook them and tried to wake them up, to no avail. They were all breathing, and they even looked remarkably peaceful, but there was something definitely wrong.

She went over to the flowers and looked at them closely. "Poppies!" she said in sudden realization, with the botanical knowledge of any plant digimon. "Great, now I've got two sedated humans and one sedated digimon on my hands!" Using her poison ivy fingers as ropes, she slowly but surely hauled the three of them back to the road.

"What happened?" Mimi asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

"Those poppies put you to sleep, but I rescued you," Palmon said, glad to see that her partner was up. Kari and Gatomon had already awaken a minute ago and she was worrying when Mimi didn't.

"How come you didn't fall asleep when you smelled the flowers?" Kari asked Palmon.

"Because I didn't smell the flowers," said Palmon, pointing to her face. "No nose. Besides, I'm a plant; opiates only work on animals."

"I had the weirdest dream," said Mimi.

"Me too," said Kari. "I can't remember everything but I have the strangest craving for lotsa spaghetti. Hey, what about you Gatomon?"

"My dream was _great," _said Gatomon. "Say, can we take some of those flowers with us?"

* * *

"Curse them!" the witch screamed, seeing them saved. "They're too tough to beat as long as they're together! I'll just have to separate them. Now let's see they should be entering the deadwood forest outside my domain soon. Perhaps, I could arrange to have two of them brought to me by air..."

"Mistress, who are you talking to in there?" called one of the guards.

"Silence, I'm doing villain monologues!"

"You sure? You've been talking to yourself all day, maybe you should lie down-"

"Look, I am bloated and emotional and I will throw you out the window if you don't get back to your patrol, you tool!"

"All right, all right, fine, jeez!"

The witch rubbed her eyes. This was turning into a very bad day. "Okay, back to it. Flying monkeys. Cackling." She cackled halfheartedly as she summoned her flying monkeys.

* * *

"This place is creepy," said Mimi, stating the obvious. The deadwood forest was nothing but a graveyard of trees. The sky was red and dead leaves had collected in piles on the brick road. There was a chilly wind blowing and the absence of birdsong or any other sound was eerie.

"Hear that?" asked Gatomon, who had the best hearing out of any of them.

"Hear what?" asked Palmon.

"I hear it," said Kari. "It sounds like a flock of birds."

Then Mimi and Palmon heard it too. It was the sound of wings flapping. Hundreds of wings flapping at the same time, as if a massive collection of birds was migrating in their direction. They sounded as if they were coming on quickly, too.

The four of them looked up to see the birds as they passed overhead and then they all gasped as they saw that they were not birds at all, but an army of flying monkeys! The monkeys shrieked and began shouting as they swooped down upon the birds. Also, one had a stereo and started playing "Flight of the Valkeries" for some reason.

"Get lost!" Gatomon said swatting one of the monkeys that went for her and Kari. The monkeys were agile, however and were able to keep out of reach. They were also numerous, and they soon overwhelmed the four of them.

"Ugh! They're in my hair!" said Mimi, swatting one upside the head with her purse. Suddenly, two monkeys each grabbed onto her shoulders and began to carry her screaming into the air.

"I've got you, Mimi!" Palmon called. "Poison Ivy!" Wrapping her vines around Mimi's ankles, Palmon anchored herself and managed to keep the monkeys from taking off.

The monkeys screeched at her and then a few more of them attacked her from behind, one of them clubbing her with a dead tree branch, knocking her unconscious. They then carried her, her vines now limp, into the air.

"Mimi! Palmon!" Kari cried, seeing them being abducted. But it was too late. The monkeys suddenly left her and Gatomon alone and flew into the air, catching up with their companions as they escaped into the night.

"We've got to find them, Gatomon!" said Kari.

"Yeah, one of those monkeys pulled my tail," said Gatomon, scowling. "I want some payback!"

* * *

At such high altitudes, Mimi had fainted. When she woke up, she was in a stone room with a tiny window. She looked outside and saw that she was high above some craggy rocks at the top of a stone tower. It looked like she was in a castle of some kind.

"Enjoying the view?" asked a voice from behind her.

Mimi whirled around to see the Irritable Witch of the South standing there, a cruel grin on her face. "You!" she exclaimed. "What did you do to Palmon?"

"Nothing, yet," said the witch. "She's still out cold." She pointed to the bed and Mimi saw that her digimon was lying on the bed, eyes closed, but otherwise okay.

"She's okay," said Mimi with relief.

"But you're not," said the witch coldly, a ball of fire appearing in her hand. "I'm going to enjoy this. I'll teach you to insult me, you little pest!" She raised her hand, preparing to throw the fire ball.

"Insult you?" asked Mimi, frightened and puzzled at the same time. "When did I do that?"

The witch rolled her eyes, but didn't throw the ball yet. "Oh, like you don't know," said the witch. "After you insulted the way I dress and everything."

"I wasn't insulting you!" said Mimi honestly. "I just thought you could use a few fashion pointers!"

"You what?" asked the witch, putting down her hand, letting the fire ball dissipate. "You mean you weren't trying to make fun of me?"

"No!" said Mimi. "I was only trying to help."

The witch looked at Mimi. "You're terrible at giving advice," she said bluntly.

"I know," Mimi replied, blushing. "I guess I can be kind of blunt. My friends say so too. But really, a few changes in your wardrobe was all I was suggesting."

"Really? Like what?" asked the witch, interested.

"Well, show me what's in your closet and we'll see what we can do," said Mimi.

Just then, Palmon woke up. "Mimi?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"Get up, Palmon!" said Mimi excitedly. "We're going to give the witch a makeover!"

* * *

"What did that sign say again?" asked Kari.

"It said, 'Spooky Witch Castle: 1 mile,'" replied Gatomon.

"Oh," said Kari. Then she was quiet for a moment. Then she asked, "You seem kind of embarrassed about that dream you had; what was it?"

Gatomon sighed and then proceeded to explain her journey into the land of the milk sea and the palatable mice and the cat-friendly restaurant from start to finish.

"Oh," said Kari. "Who the hell is Ted Nugent?"

* * *

"Now, a hat can make or break an outfit," Mimi was telling the witch, once they got in her room. "That pointy one of yours is definitely breaking your whole look. If I were you, I'd wear my hair up, no hat, and try to bring out more of my face."

"You don't think my nose is too big?" asked the witch, as she sat on a stool in front of the huge mirror in her room.

"Of course not!" said Mimi. "It just seems that way when compared to your face. Now, we already applied some base to tone down the green color of your skin and we agreed that with your coloring you should probably go with white or black. Still, that dress you're wearing has got to go."

"What about shoes?" asked the witch.

Palmon was sitting on the bed the whole time. She personally thought it would be a good idea to digivolve and fight the witch while they had the chance, but Mimi would rather make a friend and dispense fashion advice than fight any day. She was happy with the way things were working out, so Palmon simply sat by and said nothing.

"Shoes?" asked Mimi. "Well, those slippers you're wearing won't work with what I've got picked out."

"Strappies?" suggested the witch.

"Platform jellies!" exclaimed Mimi. The two of them squealed with delight.

The witch took off the ruby slippers and left them with Mimi as she went into the bathroom to change. Palmon saw this and sat up, surprised.

"Mimi, you tricked her into taking off the ruby slippers! We can use them to get us all home!" she exclaimed. "Great plan!"

"Plan?" asked Mimi. "What plan?"

"To get the slippers," said Palmon. "Obviously."

"Well, I hadn't planned on it," said Mimi. "But, never look a gift horse in the shoes, I always say!"

She put on the slippers and found that they fit perfectly. She and Palmon were just about to sneak out of the room when they heard the witch come out of her bathroom and say, "Well, how do I look?"

Mimi and Palmon turned and saw the witch in her new clothes. Her normally tangled hair was up in a bun. She was wearing a small, mid-riff white t-shirt and tight-fitting blue jeans. On her feet were the platform jellies Mimi had suggested.

"Wow," said Palmon, genuinely impressed.

"You could attract some real handsome warlocks with that ensemble," said Mimi, winking and giving her a thumbs up.

"Oh, thank you! Do you really think so? Because there's this _really_ hot warlock who- hey!" she exclaimed, pointing at Mimi. "Are you wearing _my_ ruby slippers?" Her look turned vicious.

"Oops," said Mimi. She and Palmon turned tail and ran as the witch took off, enraged, after them.

"Come back here!" she screamed. "Come ba- jeez, it's hard to run in these shoes!"

* * *

Kari and Gatomon stood on a hill of rock overlooking the castle. The only door in was a gate guarded by a troop of marching soldiers. They diligently patrolled the gate and sang a repeating chant as they marched. It went like this:

_Oh wee oh,_

_Yoooooooo um!_

_Oh wee oh,_

_Yoooooooo um!_

And so on.

"Okay, here's my plan," said Kari. "You and I will jump two of those guards. After we gently knock them out, because I don't want to hurt them, we'll steal their clothes and sneak in as guards ourselves. Once we're in, we'll search every room until we find Mimi. We'll get a disguise for her and Palmon and sneak out of the castle, hopefully with the ruby slippers. Got it?"

"Uh, Kari," said Gatomon, "how about if I just digivolve and crash through the roof and get the element of surprise?"

Kari blinked a few times. "Okay, sure," said Kari, "that sounds good to me too."

* * *

Mimi and Palmon ran into the Main Hall of the castle, a great room with a high ceiling that was the central part of the ediface.

"There's the front door!" Mimi shouted as they rushed down the stairs towards it. However, when they tried it, they found it:

"Locked," said Palmon.

"There you are!" cackled an all-too-familiar someone. "You've got nowhere else to run!" They turned and saw the witch at the top of the stairs.

"Eek! What's-"

"No! Do that joke again and I swear I'll ram my broomstick right up your-"

Just then, the ceiling of the Main Hall came crashing down as Angewomon burst through it. Kari, her arms thrown about her partner's neck, saw Mimi and Palmon by the front door. "Set down nearby!" she directed.

Angewoman landed near them and Kari jumped down. "Are you okay?" Kari asked.

"No worse than usual," said Mimi, happy to see that Kari was okay.

"I can remedy that," said the witch, now flying care of her trusty broomstick above them all.

"Wow," said Kari, seeing the way she was dressed. "You look _great."_

"Thanks," said the witch. "I'm dressed to kill, so that's just what I'll do. _Fireball!_"

Casting her spell, she threw a fireball at them, which they all dodged, but which caused an explosion of heat that they could all feel several feet away.

_"Palmon digivolve to... Togemon!"_ said Mimi's digimon, preparing for battle. Angewomon, meanwhile, had already taken to the sky to begin the fight.

_"Heaven's Charm!"_ attacked Angewomon, blasting the witch with a beam of heavenly energy. To her surprise, however, the witch was relatively unharmed, though somewhat disoriented.

"That was nice," said the witch. "This is less nice: _Witch Hex!_"

The witch's spell created a glowing green cross of energy which she then threw at Angewomon. It slammed into her like a speeding truck and nearly knocked her out of the air.

"Leave my friends alone!" cried Mimi. At that moment, the symbol of Sincerity glowed upon her chest.

"Togemon digivolve to..." said Togemon as new energy swept over her, "...Lilymon!"

The leaf-winged sprite flew up behind the witch and delivered her most devastating attack: _"Flower Cannon!"_

The witch was hit at close range by the blast and it knocked her to the ground. Lilymon and Angewomon glowered down at her as she struggled to get up.

"Give up?" asked Lilymon. "I mean, this is a lot of fuss you're making over one pair of shoes."

The witch looked and saw a small white feather on the ground. It had to be one of Angewomon's. She grinned as she picked it up and then fastened it onto a straw doll she took from her pocket.

"What now?" asked Mimi.

"I don't like this," said Kari, feeling that the witch still had another trick up her sleeve.

"This, my dears," said the witch, "is a voodoo doll. It operates on the principle of 'Why do it yourself when someone else can do it for you?'" She took the doll's left hand and then made it hit itself in the face.

To Angewomon's horror, her own hand also suddenly rose up to strike _her _in the face.

"Like another demonstration?" asked the witch. Then without waiting for the answer, she put Angewomon into position to fire her Celestial Arrow attack and aimed it at Lilymon.

"No, Angewomon!" Lilymon cried. "Fight it!"

"My magic is too powerful to fight," said the witch, cackling. She moved the doll around a little more and Angewomon was helpless as she blasted Lilymon with her celestial arrow. Lilymon tumbled to the ground where she de-digivolved back into Palmon.

"I'm taking you down," said the witch to Angewomon. "All the way down." She threw the doll to the floor and Angewomon, likewise, hit the floor. The witch walked menacingly over to the doll and put her foot down easily on it.

"I can't move!" said Angewomon, groaning.

"Sure you can," said the witch. "But only when I say so." She then kicked the doll, causing Angewomon to fly into the wall on the far side of the room. She also de-digivolved back into Gatomon.

Mimi looked on in horror. The witch had defeated them. There was nothing left to do. Unless...

"The ruby slippers!" she exclaimed. "They're supposed to have powers! How do you get these stupid things to work?"

"Check to see if they have instructions on them!" said Kari, seeing that the witch was now trying to decide which of them to destroy first.

Mimi lifted up one foot to look at the bottom of the shoe and saw that it did indeed have instructions. She read them: "DIRECTIONS:" they said. "To activate, click heels together."

Mimi wasn't sure how that would work, but she tried it anyway.

The second she clicked her heels, she was engulfed in a rosy pink light. The symbol of Sincerity on her chest began to glow once again, this time with a light that was blinding.

"What?" asked the witch, turning to see Mimi shining like a star. What she didn't notice was that Palmon had also begun to glow behind her.

Palmon felt herself flooded with energy. It was more energy than she'd ever felt course through her before. She felt power cascading over her, into her, revitalizing her into something altogether new.

_"Palmon warp digivolve to..."_ she shifted in shape and flew up into the air taking on her new form. _"...Rosemon!"_

Rosemon hovered above them as they stood in awe. The witch turned to see this new adversary and was astonished by how dramatically the little plant creature had changed.

Rosemon had a red crown of rose petals about her head. She wore a red, silken coat and green pants that were trimmed with gold. About her left arm was a long, green vine with sharp thorns lining it. It hung down from her hand like a whip. In her right hand was a red, wooden rapier. It was sharp and it looked lethal. Behind her was a cape of long, flowing white petals. She looked more regal than anything the others had ever seen.

"I don't know how you manage these quick changes and I don't care!" said the witch. _"Witch Hex!"_

Rosemon with an almost casual grace removed her whip and cracked it, breaking the witch's attack easily. _"Rose Rapier!"_ she attacked, and sent a beam of bright red energy from her sword straight at the witch.

The witch's scream was cut off abruptly as the devastating beam created an explosion. When the smoke cleared, the Irritable Witch of the South was left, her clothes burnt and smoking, on the cold stone floor. She was still alive, however, and let out a groan.

"Okay," she coughed. "You win. I give up."

Kari and Mimi looked at each other. "Really?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, that's it, I've had the worst damn day of my life and I'm just cutting my losses." She got on her broomstick and floated up to the hole Angewomon made when she crashed through the roof. "So take the shoes, I don't even care anymore. I'm giving up the whole 'witch' thing. I'll see if they'll take me back at Fox News or something." And without another word, she took off through the hole and was gone.

Rosemon de-digivolved back into Palmon and dropped to the floor. "You did it, Palmon!" Mimi said, running up to her partner happily.

"Not so loud," said Palmon. "Digivolving to my Mega level took a lot out of me."

Just then, from every door of the castle, the witch's guards came running out. At first, the four of them thought that they were retaliating for their master's demise. However, it turned out that they were cheering.

"Why are you so happy?" asked Kari. "Wasn't she your leader?"

"No way!" said one of them. "She was a slave driver. She's forced us to work for her for years! And now that she's gone, we can stop doing that stupid chant and get real jobs!"

"Hey, glad to help out," said Gatomon.

"Look!" said Kari, seeing a glowing pink bubble descending from the sky. "It's Glenda!"

Indeed it was the Good Witch of the North. She materialized and congratulated the four heroines.

"But Glenda, how do we use the shoes to get home?" asked Mimi.

"That's simple," said Glenda. "Just close your eyes, click your heels together, and say, 'There's no place like home,' three times."

They all gathered around Mimi and closed their eyes as she clicked her heels and began to say the words: "There's no place like home... there's no place like home... there's no place like home..."

Mimi carefully opened one eye. She was still in the castle.

"Hey, what happened?" she demanded. The others also opened their eyes to see that they hadn't gone anywhere.

"Hmm, let me see those shoes," said Glenda. Mimi removed them and Glenda examined them. After a moment or two of checking, she removed something from the right heel.

"Just as I thought!" she said. "The battery's dead. I think you used it up powering up your partner."

"Well, where can we get a new one?" asked Kari.

"Wherever it was made, I guess," said Glenda.

Gatomon jumped up and snatched the battery away from Glenda and read the small print on it: "Made in Japan."

"Oh, that's just great!" Mimi cried, exasperated.

* * *

Later, after Glenda had left, only the four of them and a few guards were left behind. Most of the guards had left, saying that they were taking a long overdue vacation in the poppy field.

"Now that's moronic," said Mimi sullenly.

_"Ironic," _Kari corrected, just as sullen.

"You're both right," said Gatomon.

Just then, there was a beeping sound. "Hey, it's the digivice!" said Kari, picking it up off her belt loop.

"Mimi? Kari? This is Izzy!" said Izzy's voice. "Are you there?"

"Izzy?" asked Kari, astonished.

Mimi, however, had experience with Izzy communicating via the digivices, so picked up on the conversation immediately. "Yes, Izzy, it's us! Did you find a way home?"

"I sure did," said Izzy. "For you and the rest of us!"

"Have you spoken to the others?" asked Kari with concern. "Tai?" she asked, swallowing. "Or TK?"

"I haven't contacted Tai yet, but I'm sure I can locate him," said Izzy. "TK's fine and so is everyone else I've reached. In the meantime, it's imperative that you find a computer."

"A computer?" asked Mimi. "Where are we going to find a computer in a big old spooky castle?" she wailed.

"Actually," said one of the guards who'd remained, "there's one in the dungeon, next to the iron maiden."

The girls and their digimon stared questioningly at the guard. "Hey, she may have been a witch, but she was with the times," said the guard.

"Great!" said Izzy, overhearing the guard. "All you have to do is be in contact with your digimon and touch the activated monitor screen with your digivices. If everything works right, you should be heading back to where we started instantaneously!"

"That's great, Izzy!" said Kari.

"Yeah," said Mimi already rushing to the dungeon, "when I get home I'm going to tell all this to my Auntie Em!"

"Who?" asked Palmon.

**To Be Continued...**

_(Note: Lyrics from the song "Pink" are the property of Aerosmith and I didn't write them, nor did anyone associated with Digimon. Thank you.)_


	6. Primal

_(AUTHOR'S NOTE: story draws from the book "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton, as if you didn't know who wrote it. Note that I'm basing this story a bit on both the book and the movie. This story takes place after the island is evacuated.__)_

**SCATTERED, Part 6**

**"Primal"**

Dr. Alan Grant looked out the window of the helicopter as it flew over the island. This place, Jurassic Park, had been a place he'd dreamed of… but it turned out to be a nightmare, an abomination of everything natural, just as Malcolm had said. He had been lucky to get out alive. He turned from the window to look at Robert Muldoon, the game warden, the chief of security as it were.

"Are we sure everyone got out?" Grant asked, trying not to wake the others who had already dozed off.

"We made damn sure," said Muldoon. "Hammond is dead, of course, as are Mr. Arnold and Dr. Wu, but other than that, everyone who made it back to the visitor's center is all right."

Grant nodded and continued to look out the window. The island was peaceful, serene-looking, and beautiful. Seeing it, one could almost forget the horrors that were resident on the island. He frowned suddenly and turned back to Muldoon. "What if there _is _someone left on the island?" he asked.

Muldoon looked up briefly at Grant, his eyes hard and icy. "Well, if there were any people left on the island, which I doubt," said Muldoon, "then they're on their own now, and I don't give them good odds."

* * *

What Muldoon didn't know, _couldn't _have known, was that there was someone left on the island. Four someones, to be exact. Four strangers who'd been transported there by an interdimensional gateway and now found themselves on the beach with a lot of questions and no knowledge at all of the gruesome events of the past 24 hours…

* * *

Tai came over, Sora right behind him, and read the sign, although he couldn't understand its meaning: "Welcome to Jurassic Park: Where Dinosaurs Rule Again!"

"Hey, I like this place already!" Agumon said, liking the part about dinosaurs ruling.

"Hmm, sounds like a theme park," Tai said. "You think Mini Apocalymon sent us to some part of Disneyworld by mistake?"

That's when they heard something rustling in the bushes.

"Did you hear that, Tai?" asked Sora. The rustling was now accompanied by a series of odd chirps.

"Yeah, sounds like birds," said Tai.

"I don't know," she said. "Biyomon, let's check it out." As the two of them ran a little ways down the beach in the direction of the chirping, Tai saw something on the ground, near the sign. He bent down and picked it up to examine it.

"What is it, Tai?" asked Agumon.

"It looks like a pamphlet," said Tai, confused. It was wet, as if it had been rained on, but was in otherwise okay condition. It said, "Jurassic Park Dinosaur Guide" on the front and Tai opened it to find well-drawn pictures of dinosaurs with a page or two of information about each of them.

"This is weird," said Tai, showing the pamphlet to Agumon.

"Why do you say that?" asked Agumon.

"This pamphlet is talking like real dinosaurs are living on this island," said Tai. "But dinosaurs haven't lived on earth for millions of years! They're supposed to be extinct!"

"That's too bad," said Agumon.

"Yeah, I always did like dinosaurs as a kid," said Tai. Then, seeing Agumon looking a little hurt, quickly added, "And I still do!" and gave him a pat on the back.

Then both their heads jerked up and they ran down the beach as they heard something completely unexpected: Sora screaming.

"Sora, what is it?" Tai asked urgently, seeing her and Biyomon crouched low on the ground.

"Shh!" hissed Sora, a finger at her lips. "Look!"

Tai looked in the same direction as her and then gawked at what he saw.

There before them was a small, green lizard-like creature. It was hardly a foot tall and it walked upright and bobbed its head up and down as it moved. It had big eyes and a pointed snout and it turned its head curiously to one side as it looked at the four of them.

"I'm sorry for screaming," whispered Sora, "but it just jumped out at me. Is it… is that… Tai, am I wrong or is that a dinosaur?"

Tai wasn't sure, but then he remembered the pamphlet he was still carrying. He flipped several pages until he came across a picture that looked astonishingly like the creature before them.

"It says it's called Pro-comp-sag-nathus," said Tai, sounding out the syllables. "Yeah, 'Procompsagnathus, or compy, for short,'" he said, reading the entry, "'is usually a docile carnivore, usually only attacking small rodents and avoiding anything larger than itself.'"

"Well, that's good," said Sora.

Just then the little compy chirped at them.

"Hey, it's kind of cute!" said Sora, turning to Tai. "Did you hear it? It just chirped," she said, pointing to the creature.

In the moment when her head was turned away and she was pointing at it, the compy leapt up and bit down onto Sora's finger.

She screamed and quickly shook the little animal off her finger as the others ran to her alarmed.

"Are you okay?" asked Biyomon.

"Yeah," Sora said, wincing in pain. "He got me through my glove. It isn't bad, though." She removed the glove and examined her finger which only had a small bite mark on it.

"I thought you said they were 'docile,' Tai," said Agumon.

"Hey, that's just what the pamphlet says," said Tai. "Let's see… it also says, 'The compy will attack larger prey, however, if it is hungry and backed by numerous other compies in a group. They are poisonous-'"

"Poisonous?" asked Sora, frightened.

"'-but the venom is only deadly in large amounts,'" Tai read, comforting her. He went on: "'The compy uses its venom to numb, paralyze, and eventually kill its prey, wearing it down not with size or strength but sheer numbers.' Hey, good thing there's only one of these things, right guys?"

"Uh, Tai?" asked Sora quietly.

Tai looked up from the pamphlet. Several more compies had poked their heads from the bushes. And every second more and more were appearing. And he was starting to hear chirping noises from the bushes off to the side.

"Everyone back up slowly," said Tai, hushed. All four of them took a few steps back, only to have the hungry compies take a few steps forward after them. Tai picked up a rock from the beach and threw it at the compies, causing them to scatter slightly, but they only regrouped and weren't frightened away.

"Pepper breath!" Agumon attacked, blasting one and sending it screaming, burned, back into the forest. The other compies only stepped forward and continued to advance toward them menacingly.

Tai heard a chirp very close behind him and was about to turn to look when he felt the weight of one as it leapt onto his back. He yelled in fright and reached over his shoulders and pulled it off his back, flinging it at the others. The compies were undaunted and still moved ever closer.

Then without warning the compies rushed at them in a wave of tiny, hungry mouths lined with tiny, sharp teeth.

The four of them fought off the dozens of small creatures as fiercely as they could. Agumon managed to repel many away with his pepper breath as did Biyomon with her spiral twister. Tai and Sora both got a hold of some driftwood from the beach and swatted as many away as they could, kicking any that came too close, but they weren't doing all that much damage to the persistent creatures and there were simply too many of them.

"What do we do, Tai?" asked Sora.

"We've got to get to safety!" he said. "Maybe if we can fend them off for a while we can-" he was cut off as several leapt upon him at the same time, bringing him to the ground. The compies swarmed him.

"Tai! No!" cried Agumon. _"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"_

Now digivolved, Greymon was a very imposing sight. Many of the compies fled at the sight of something so large. Others ignored him and continued to attack Tai as he struggled on the ground. Greymon raised his huge saurian foot and brought it down hard, causing the ground to tremble. The compies on Tai were frightened away and he got to his feet.

"Great job, Greymon!" said Tai. Then, seeing several of the compies still attacking he said, "Sora! Biyomon! Get on Greymon's back!"

The two of them did as they were told and Tai joined them, but the compies continued to nip at Greymon's feet, despite his imposing size. He was shuffling around and getting off balance. He was also getting annoyed.

_"Nova Blast!"_ he attacked, sending a colossal fireball and the largest cluster of them. The explosion of heat from the blast sent most of the compies flying, several were fried on the spot, and the rest finally gave up, beating a retreat back into the jungle.

"We're safe," said Sora, breathing a sigh of relief. Then, Greymon de-digivolved and the three of them tumbled to the ground as he returned to his smaller size.

"Could you warn us a little next time?" asked Tai, rubbing his arm which he'd fallen on.

"Sorry, Tai," said Agumon, "but I just ran out of energy. I'm not sure I can digivolve again until I get some food."

"In that case," said Tai, "let's get out of here before those compies come back."

"But go where?" asked Sora.

Tai checked the pamphlet for a map, which he finally found. "Here," he said pointing. "The Visitors Center. There's got to be someone there who can help. All we have to do is follow a road through the jungle and we should be able to find it. No problem!"

"How many times have we heard him say, 'No problem?'" Biyomon asked Sora quietly, to which they both chuckled.

* * *

The road was muddy and filled with puddles. It was wide, though, with no sign of traffic on it, although cars had traveled the road many times before, judging by the numerous tire tracks. On both sides of the road was jungle. Thick, impenetrable jungle more dark and foreboding than anything they'd seen in the Digiworld. Sora, Agumon, and Biyomon all regarded the jungle with a kind of anxious awe, but Tai seemed unconcerned and led the four of them.

"Will you quit worrying?" he said, exasperated. "I mean, were safer out here in the open. This way, we can see everything coming out the jungle and nothing can take us by surprise. Anything we come across, we can handle!"

Sora was comforted by Tai's confidence, but she still felt herself tremble involuntarily. And then she trembled again. And again.

"Did you guys feel that?" she asked apprehensively.

"Feel what?" asked Tai. The others also seemed not to notice anything. Sora was walking along a little further, shrugging off the sensation, when she felt it again and happened to glance down at a puddle in the road.

It had rippled.

"Hold on, Tai," said Sora. "What do you make of this?"

Tai backtracked a little bit and looked at the puddle she was pointing at. "It's called a puddle," said Tai sarcastically. "Now, can we… what was that?"

Tai felt something this time. And when he felt the trembling, he saw the water in the puddle as it was also disturbed. Now the puddle was rippling rhythmically. By itself. And the ripples were becoming more violent.

"What do think is making it do that?" asked Biyomon.

"That!" Agumon exclaimed, pointing excitedly. Everyone turned and saw an enormous dinosaur emerging from the trees. It was at least two stories tall and it had a huge box-like head with big, yellow eyes on the side. It walked on two massive, powerful legs and it sounded like thunder when it stepped. It was all gray and its cavernous mouth was filled with huge teeth the size of steak-knives.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex," said Tai in awe. "I don't even have to check the pamphlet for that."

"Do you think it saw us?" Sora asked quietly, her voice gripped with fear.

The tyrannosaurus turned its head to the four of them and let out a deafening roar as it charged toward them, a mere seventy yards away.

"Yeah, I do," said Tai. _"Run."_

The four of them did run, but the huge creature pursued them with stunning speed. Tai had always thought dinosaurs would have been a lot slower, considering how big they were, but he supposed his own digimon's behavior should have taught him otherwise. After all, Agumon and his digivolved forms were like dinosaurs and all of them were fairly fast creatures. At any rate, he knew that if they didn't do something quickly, the t-rex would catch and most likely eat every one of them.

Biyomon made the move to act. _"Biyomon digivolve to…"_

Sora looked at her partner flying next to her. To her surprise, she was still in her rookie stage. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm just too hungry and too worn out from the fight with those small dinosaurs!" she huffed, her flight becoming more sluggish. "I can't digivolve!"

"Okay," said Tai, turning sharply and heading right for the jungle. "New plan!"

The others followed him into the thick foliage and through some palm trees that were growing very close together. The four of them fought their way through the vegetation, but, as Tai predicted, the approaching dinosaur was also slowed down by the trees it had to crash through.

"We're going to make it!" said Tai jubilantly. "We're-" he was cut off in mid-sentence as he tripped on a tree root and hit the ground hard. The others, in their haste, didn't yet notice that he'd fallen.

When they did notice, they were already some distance ahead. They turned back to help him, but, as Tai heard the T-rex crashing close behind him, he yelled, "Go! Get farther away! I'll hide!"

Tai got to his feet and knew he would have to hide fast. There was no time to run, so he put his back to a tall tree as the t-rex thundered past him. He flattened himself to the tree as best he could, hoping that the dinosaur would run right past him. Sora and the other's hid behind a tree farther away.

At first, Tai's plan seemed to work as the t-rex ran past him. Then, however, the animal stopped and turned its head back, looking over its shoulder. Looking right at Tai.

Tai was frozen to the spot as the t-rex came right over to him. It peered down at him over its snout. The head was only a foot away from him. Its jaws were only a foot away.

Tai closed his eyes and he shivered in sheer terror. He gritted his teeth and held his breath, preparing himself to be devoured. The creature's hot breath blasted over him from a puff from its nostrils.

Sora and the two digimon watched from a distance and saw the tyrannosaur as it stared right at the helpless, discovered Tai. Sora, turned away, not wanting to see it happen, her eyes closed as she began to sob softly. Biyomon and Agumon only watched helplessly, knowing that their was nothing they could do to save him.

Tai waited. And waited. And waited for the inevitable, final moments. But they didn't come. He opened his eyes to see the t-rex still standing there, still deadly, still breathing heavily, sending hot breath through his hair… but it didn't attack. It made no move. It didn't eat him.

And then, just like that, the tyrannosaurus rex gave a guttural grunt and continued on, walking steadily, right past Sora and the others.

Sora and the digimon came over to Tai. "Are you okay?" Sora asked.

Tai let out a long breath. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. He was shaking. He turned slowly to Sora. "Never better," he said, and then collapsed to his knees and, oddly enough, began to laugh.

* * *

They were on a smaller trail a short time later and Tai was grinning and still laughing occasionally. Sora and the others couldn't quite figure it out. Finally, Sora asked, "Tai, what are you laughing about?"

Tai turned around, his face glowing intensely. "I made it!" he said, laughing again. "I mean, I was never so sure that I was going to die! I thought I was a goner! And look! I made it through! I survived! Sora I feel more alive than I've ever felt before!"

"How come the t-rex didn't eat you, Tai?" asked Agumon.

"I checked the pamphlet for that earlier," said Tai. "It said that t-rex has… let's see what was it… 'movement-based vision.' That means that if you get out of his sight and then hold still, he can't see you. I stayed still next to the tree and so he couldn't even see me when I was right in front of him!"

Sora was relieved that Tai was all right, but she didn't feel any better. She had also been sure that he would be killed, but the fact that he hadn't didn't make her feel any more confident. She chalked it up to luck.

"What are you thinking about, Sora?" asked Biyomon.

"I keep thinking that these dinosaurs are almost worse than the evil digimon we've fought before," she said. "I mean, I know they're not evil, they're just trying to survive, like we are, but that makes them even more dangerous in some ways. With enemies like the Dark Masters, it was always a presented battle. They usually came around bragging or challenging us, or tried to toy with us first. That usually gave us time to think, time to strategize, to put up a decent fight. These creatures aren't giving us any warning or taunts or playing any games. They're just trying to eat us."

From a little ways off, they heard an owl hoot. It sounded fairly close by, although out of visual range.

"Hey, an owl," said Tai. "Agumon, can you still make your pepper breath?"

"Yeah, I'm not that weak, yet," said Agumon.

"Then toast that owl and we can get you and Biyomon some food and maybe Sora and I too!"

"Got it!" said Agumon running a little ways ahead.

"No, Tai, wait!" said Sora, calling after Agumon who was already carrying out Tai's order.

Agumon ran a little ways and then saw a larger dinosaur, this one about four feet tall. It had two small red ridges on its head, but the rest of its body was green. On its neck was a folded flap of skin. The creature looked up and it hooted at him.

"Pepper breath!" Agumon attacked, blasting the dinosaur. He wasn't taking any chances.

"Agumon, why'd you do that?" asked Tai, coming up behind his digimon. "That thing was tiny. It was probably harmless."

Just then, another of the creatures appeared from behind some reeds. It looked at its fallen partner and the four strangers. Then, it hissed at them and the skin around its neck flared up revealing a brightly colored collar.

"What the…" Agumon began, somewhat mesmerized by the beautiful colors of the collar. Then, to his surprise, the creature spat a huge wad of greenish slime at him.

"Agumon!" exclaimed Tai.

"Ow! It stings!" Agumon cried. Tai looked up to see two more of the creatures. He didn't even have to tell them to run this time. He only picked up his pained partner and carried him as he ran.

"Tai, this way!" Sora called. Tai looked in the direction of her voice and saw that she'd found a small utility shed hidden among the trees. He ran to it and shut the door behind him, barring it. From outside he could hear several more globs of the slime the creatures spat splattering against the walls of the shed.

"Agumon, are you okay?" Tai asked.

"Not really," said Agumon. "I don't think I can use my pepper breath anymore. This stuff must be some kind of poison; it's making me weaker!"

The other three of them found some rags and cleaned the gunk off of him. Then Tai read the entry for the dinosaur in his pamphlet.

"'Dilophosaurus,'" Tai read, "'is a deceptively harmless looking creature. When threatened, angered, or hunting, it displays its collar as a warning sign to enemies and then launches a glob of paralyzing and blinding venom. If enough of the venom has contact with prey, it will be paralyzed. Much more serious is its blinding effects, as even one drop of the venom can cause permanent blindess.'"

They heard the dilophosaurs outside and it sounded like they were trying to tunnel under the wall of the dirt-floor shed.

"It's only a matter of time before they tunnel in here," Sora said, "and our digimon can't hold them off forever. What do you think we should do, Tai?"

Tai was searching through the boxes in the shed, of which there were many. He opened one near the back and then grinned widely. "I've got a great plan!" said Tai.

"Really?" asked Sora. "What?"

"Okay. First, take off your clothes."

**_"WHAAAAT?" _**Sora screamed.

* * *

The dilophosaurs were at the side of the shed, digging furiously with their back claws when they heard a sound from the front of the shed. They turned their heads and saw Tai emerge.

In addition to the t-shirt and jeans he had been wearing, he was now wearing Sora's tank top over the bottom half of his face and neck like a mask. Covering his arms were Sora's jeans. On his head was Sora's hat. He had his goggles pulled down over his eyes. In his left hand was the lid from one of the shed's boxes. In his right hand was an automatic shotgun.

Tai fired the first shot and the lead dilophosaur fell back in a heap. The other two looked down at it in surprise. That gave Tai the opportunity to blast the second. The third hissed and spat a wad of venom at him, but Tai shielded himself with the box lid. He aimed and fired, finishing off the last one.

"Did it work?" Agumon asked from inside the shed.

"Yeah," said Tai, breathing a sigh of relief. "I didn't even get your things dirty, Sora!" He walked back into the shed and started to take off the clothes that weren't his. Sora was hiding behind a pile of crates at the other end of the shed. She poked her head carefully around the crates and looked at him.

"I still wish you'd tried to think of something else," she grumbled as Tai handed the clothes to Biyomon, who carried them to Sora.

"Sorry, Sora, but there wasn't enough time and I couldn't think of a better way to shield myself from that stuff they spat," he said, turning his back. Agumon came up beside him as Sora got dressed. "So did you check?" Tai asked Agumon, whispering.

"Yes, but I'm still not sure I should have," Agumon whispered back.

"And?" Tai asked eagerly.

"They're white with little, purple violets on them," Agumon told him, sighing.

"Awesome."

* * *

Sora made Tai promise not to take any more lethal weapons, since they were making her nervous, but they did grab just about every other kind of nonlethal weapon available. They took several tranquilizer dart guns, a half dozen gas grenades each, a cattle prod, and two semi-automatic guns that fired rubber bullets. When they emerged from the utility shed, they looked ready for war.

It was getting late and daylight was fading fast when they reached the waterfront. Down by the river was a boathouse and a series of docks. Since they were all hungry, they made some rudimentary fishing poles out of reeds and shoelaces.

"Do you really think we can catch anything using nothing for bait?" asked Tai.

"I don't know, but it's worth a try," said Sora.

"Hmm…" said Agumon.

"What is it, Agumon?" asked Biyomon.

"I was just wondering how to pronounce that word," he said.

"What word?" asked Sora.

_"Deinosuchus," _he said, hoping he'd pronounced it correctly.

"Uh, Agumon where'd you see that word?" asked Tai nervously, looking at Agumon over his shoulder. Agumon pointed at a sign that was partially concealed by grass near the shore.

It said, "Caution: Deinosuchus Feeding Area."

Tai looked through the pamphlet, frantically looking up Deinosuchus. He finally found it and read as quickly as he could.

"Okay," he said, putting his finger on the entry. "'This primordial ancestor of today's crocodiles-'"

He was cut off as an enormous reptilian creature reared its head out of the water and charged up at the children. It did indeed look like a crocodile, except for the fact that it was over thirty feet long and looked like it could swallow any one of them whole. All four of them screamed and scrambled to their feet to avoid the monstrous animal.

They dodged the Deinosuchus as it brought its head up onto the dock and snarled at them. It tried to snap at them, but it was out of range and they dodged its jaws easily. Obviously frustrated, it slid back into the water and vanished beneath the murky depths.

They all ran for the shore. There was about fifty feet of dock between them and the shore, however, and they knew that it was their only way to safety. Their fears weren't helped by the fact that they couldn't see the deinosuchus anywhere. They were about twenty-five feet from the dock and Tai felt sure that they would make it to safety.

Then the aquatic predator exploded from the water, coming down on the dock among the children, sending them sprawling onto the planks. The deinosuchus snapped its jaws shut again and this time caught the cuff of Sora's jeans. Feeling that it had a hold on something, the creature began to pull her off the dock and into the water.

"Tai, Biyomon!" Sora cried. "Help!"

"Sora!" Tai exclaimed in horror. He grabbed hold of her hand with both of his and the two digimon held his back. The three of them comined were no match for he deinosuchus that had a death grip on Sora's jean cuff and they were all dragged further towards the water.

Tai thought quick and wrapped his legs around a wooden post on the side of the dock, bracing himself. Now it was an even match in a game of tug of war and the prize was Sora's life. If Tai and the others got her on the dock, they could easily get to shore before the deinosuchus made another attack. If not, then the deinosuchus would drag her into the water where it was strongest and where she would be doomed.

"Don't let go!" Sora screamed, her eyes wide with pleading horror. The deinosuchus growled and shook, tugging at Sora's leg, trying to loosen those protecting her. And it was working. Tai was starting to feel Sora's hand slowly slip from his own.

Tai pulled out the tranquilizer dart gun from his back and aimed it squarely at the deinosuchus and fired several darts. To his amazement, each one ricocheted off the animal's tough hide. The creature merely blinked at each shot and continued unabated. Biyomon, at the back of the group, raised herself higher in the air with her wings and fired her attack.

"Spiral twister!" the attack hit the deinosuchus right between the eyes, but it only grunted, as if it only received mild discomfort from the attack. Sora, holding on desperately, found the cattle prod she had hung on her belt and removed it. She turned it on and drove it into the deinosuchus' nose, jolting it with a burst of electricity. For a moment, the creature seemed to stop pulling. Then, before, she could shock it again, it began rolling in the water, shaking her violently and causing her to drop the prod into the water. The deinosuchus began to tug once again, this time with an even greater ferocity.

"Sora, hold on!" Tai shouted, feeling his grip was weakening.

"Don't let go, Tai!" she said, desperate tears forming in her eyes. "Please! Please… please…"

Biyomon pulled with all her might, drawing on inner reserves of strength upon seeing her best friend break down and the others weaken in the struggle. Unfortunately, her pull was too much and she lost her grip on Agumon and went flying backwards off the dock and into the water. She surfaced, sputtering, and saw that without her help Sora was being pulled even closer to a watery grave.

Then she saw something else. A gigantic dragonfly buzzed right above her head. It was huge. It was as large as a hot dog.

And, she realized, every bit as edible.

Ignoring her inhibitions she jumped out of the water and snapped up the insect, using her bird-like instincts.

Tai was pulling with all his strength, meanwhile, and he felt his arms turning to jelly. Breathing was becoming pure agony and the post he was bracing himself with was digging into his stomach as the deinosuchus pulled him over it. Fear, desperation, and rage filled his eyes with tears now as well. Sora's grip loosened further as she became more and more exhausted.

Then to his complete surprise, he heard a voice behind him: _"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"_

Suddenly overhead was the giant red bird. Birdramon hovered over the deinosuchus and prepared to strike.

_"Meteor Wing!"_ she attacked, and sent two giant, fiery blasts down upon the savage creature, creating a massive explosion in the water. The deinosuchus instantly released its grip on Sora and reared back in the water, roaring in pain as most of its back was obliterated. It gave a final growl as it thrashed in the water. Finally, it ceased to move and was still as it floated on its back.

"Are you okay?" Tai asked, helping Sora onto the dock.

"I think so," said Sora. "Let's just grab our shoestring fishing poles and get out of here!"

* * *

The moolight was silvery and pale over the jungle that night, but its glow dimly illuminated the dense green canopy below them. The four of them were in a tree that night. Birdramon had flown them very far inland, but couldn't quite make it to the visitor's center. So, she touched down in a tree and de-digivolved there. Since none of them had ever heard of any dinosaurs that could climb trees, they decided that it would likely be the safest place to spend the night.

Agumon and Biyomon were both asleep on tree branches, completely exhausted. Tai was sitting on branch near to Sora's. He was near to sleep himself when he heard Sora say, "Look at that, Tai."

"What?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"The moon over the jungle," said Sora. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Yeah," said Tai, rubbing his eyes, smiling. "It is kinda nice," he agreed.

The two of them watched the moon through the tree's lush foliage. Of in the distance, a Brachiosaurus raised its head over the trees, stetching out its long neck. It made a long, low sound that echoed across the jungle. Far off, a few sonorous replies from other Brachisaurs returned.

"You were worried about me today," said Sora. "With that overgrown crocodile."

"Yeah," he said. "And you were worried about me today, with the t-rex."

"Yeah," she said. The two of them were quiet then.

"When were you most worried about me?" asked Sora, smiling slyly.

Tai chuckled nervously. "I guess during that time when Datamon kidnapped you at Etemon's pyramid," he said. "How about you?"

"Yeah, that worried me too, after all I was the one who got kidnapped," she said, laughing. Tai started to rephrase the question, but she put up her hand. "I'm kidding, Tai, I know what you meant. Actually, I guess it was about the same time, when you and Metal Greymon got sucked into that vortex after you blasted Etemon. We didn't know where you were and, after all, you were gone for a couple of months!"

Tai and Sora lapsed back into silence, both strangely contented by the fact that they worried about each other. That silence continued for quite a while before either of them spoke again.

"Tai, what if we don't make it back?" Sora asked.

"Back home?" Tai asked. "Don't worry, Sora," he said confidently. "We'll make it back."

"But... what if we don't?" Sora asked again.

"We have to," Tai said. "I mean, think about Kari and Matt, and the rest of our friends. We've got to make it back."

"No," Sora sighed. "I'm just posing a hypothetical question."

"What do you mean?" Tai asked, confused.

"Well," Sora began, blushing slightly in the faint light. "I mean… if we don't make it home, and we have to stay in this dimension… what does that mean for, y'know… us?"

"Us?" asked Tai, puzzled.

"Yes," she replied, seriously. "If we have to make it alone, what does it mean for us?"

Tai was quiet as a look of slow comprehension crossed his face. "Oh," he said very softly. He considered for a moment. Then, presently, he began to smile. He reached out and put his hand on Sora's shoulder. He leaned closer to her and she did the same. The two of them, both inexperienced and unsure of what to do, brought their faces slowly, awkwardly, closer together.

They leaned in and, for one brief instant, their lips touched. Relaxing slightly, the small peck became a real kiss. They leaned in closer to each other, when a strong breeze rustled the leaves surrounding them. Both pulled back at the sudden sound before realizing that it was only the wind. Their cheeks burning, the two of them leaned back in their respective branches and were quiet again. They didn't look at each other, but both wore expressions of nervous satisfaction. The two of them felt a strange and wonderful kind of electricity in the air.

"So," said Sora, giggling slightly. "Um…"

"Yeah, uh…" Tai said. "Good night!" he blurted and turned over, getting in a sleeping position.

"Yeah, yeah, you too!" she said, a little too energetically. The two stayed awake for some time that night, both feigning sleep to the other.

Tai was the first to get to sleep, though. He fell asleep with the image of little, purple violets dancing in his head…

* * *

"Well, we finally made it," said Tai. They stood in front of the visitors center of this strange theme park called Jurassic Park. The building was large and it had big stairs leading up to the front doors. It looked like a nice hotel, surrounded by neatly spaced palm trees and a man-made pond.

Agumon turned as he heard a noise coming from the bushes nearby. "Hey, you guys, what's that?" he asked.

They went over to where the noise was coming from and, to their surprise, they found a miniature recorder. It was set to record and the tape was almost empty. Tai picked it up, stopped, and rewound it. Then he pressed play and they all gathered around to listen.

"My name is Henry Wu," said the voice on the recorder. "The geneticist for this... _park_. It was supposed to be a zoo, but now, it's just a feeding ground for these monsters. For anyone who finds this and wonders what has happened, I will tell you, so that others will know the reason for all this violence.

"A few days ago, a man named Dennis Nedry stole a vial of frozen dinosaur embryos. His whereabouts are unknown, though he is presumed dead. In any case, to steal the embryos, he used a computer virus to crash the computer system. In the process, nearly all the dinosaurs escaped from their pens, once their fences were no longer electrified. Since then, we've just been trying to get everyone to safety, but while we were able to get the power back on for a while and radio the mainland, the power has gone out again and we can find no way to reboot the computers. I know I'm being hunted by these creatures. Velociraptors. I'm just trying to avoid them and get to the helipad before-"

Then there was a sound of unearthly screeches and Wu yelling. Then a sound that indicated that he'd dropped the recorder, followed by the sound of footsteps quickly running away. Then there was only the sounds of the jungle. Tai turned it off.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Sora, shivering.

At that moment, a voice floated from seemingly nowhere. "Tai? Sora? Are you there? Come in, Tai and Sora!"

"Izzy!" said Tai, recognizing his friend's voice. "What's up?"

"I believe I've found a way for us to return," Izzy said.

"Great!" said Sora. "What do we have to do?"

"In order to return home, you need to find a computer and both touch your digivices to the screen while in contact with your digimon," Izzy said. "I've already contacted everyone else about this and they seem to able to find a computer. The only problem is that this won't work unless we can all get to a computer. That means that if you two don't get to one as well, then none of the rest of us will go home either. Please tell me the place you're in has computers."

"Well, yeah," said Tai, "but unfortunately they're all down. We've got to turn the power back on."

"Okay, do that," said Izzy. "And no matter what, make sure nobody gets killed before you can transport home."

"No sweat, Izzy!" said Tai, the epitome of confidence. "We'll see you when we get back!"

"Prodigious!" Izzy said. "Izzy out."

"Well, you heard him, guys," said Tai. "Are you ready, Agumon?"

Just then, to everyone's surprise, Agumon fainted.

"Agumon!" Tai exclaimed. "What is it, buddy?"

Sora looked down at him as Tai checked him out. "Is he all right?" she asked.

"I think so," he said. "But he's out cold. The poor guy is exhausted. He's gone too long without food, been poisoned, and pushed himself too hard getting here."

Sora looked down, contemplating. "Okay, Tai, here's what we need to do," she said, taking charge. "You go get Agumon inside to safety and try to find out where the computers are. Biyo and I will turn the generator back on." Tai began to protest, but Sora brushed his objections off. "The important thing is that Agumon is taken care of. We can't take him with us right now, so help him. Just use the map to tell me where the generator is and the two of us will get the power back on."

Tai still thought it was a bad idea to separate, but he reluctantly showed Sora where the generator was on the map. "Okay, meet me back in front of the visitor's center when you're done," Tai said. "And like Izzy said: be careful." He picked up Agumon and flung him over his shoulder as he went up the stairs to the visitor's center while Sora and Biyomon began walking to the forest trail that would lead them to the generator room.

* * *

Tai found a lounge with a couch once inside the visitor's center. He decided to let Agumon rest there while he searched for the computer room. The lounge didn't have any vending machines, otherwise he would have tried to wake Agumon up and gotten him something to eat. Instead, he laid him down on the couch and quietly left to begin his search. He drew his tranquilizer gun and began to stalk down the hallway.

Tai was close, he could feel it, but he wasn't positive about where to look. He was going down a hallway lit only with emergency lights when he heard something behind him. It sounded low and guttural, almost like a dog. But he knew it was no dog.

Frantically searching he found an emergency flare among his weapons. He managed to get it to light and the hallway was suddenly illuminated by its flaming red light.

At the end of the hallway, following him, were two dinosaurs, both between four and five feet tall. They were two legged and obviously carnivores. They had large yellow eyes that looked similar to a hawk's and long, whip-like tails. They had two arms, both with three clawed fingers and on their legs were three toes. On the inside toe of each of them was a large, curving claw that was raised. They looked sharp and more than capable of slashing him to death. Seeing them in the flickering red light made them look somewhat demonic and Tai felt his pulse quicken.

He raised his tranquilizer and fired a dart at them. Both ducked it easily, with an almost casual skill. Tai fired a few more at them, but both times they dodged the darts. Still, despite their speed and cleverness, they didn't attack him. They seemed to know that they had less chance of being hit if they kept their distance.

Never taking his eyes off the creatures, Tai took a step back. To his dismay, the creatures also took a step. He took another step and they again followed suit. Then, deciding to be bold, he turned tail and ran as fast as he could. The dinosaurs immediately gave chase, quickly narrowing the gap between themselves and their prey. Tai saw a door at the end of the hallway and managed to get through the door and close it behind him just before his pursuers could reach him. They slammed into the closed door and let out enraged screeches.

Tai watched them through the door's glass window. He took out his pamphlet and began to look up the creatures' profile. He finally found it and recognized the name.

"'Velociraptor,'" he read, "' or simply "raptor" is one of the lesser known, but more evolved dinosaurs at Jurassic Park. The raptor can run at speeds of 100 kilometers per hour (60 mph), has keen vision, and a powerful sense of smell. It does not bite its enemies but rather disembowels them using the razor sharp claws on its inner toes.' Eugh. 'In addition to all this, the raptor is extremely intelligent, at least as smart as a chimpanzee. This means it can solve problems, strategize, and form complex methods of pack hunting to bring down prey. Aggressive and lethal, the velociraptor is the only dinosaur we know of to display hunting for sport, not for food, making it one of the most vicious predators that ever lived.'"

Tai looked up and saw that the raptors were ramming the door with their heads and achieving little more than getting a headache.

"Yeah, these guys are really scary," Tai said sarcastically. He turned and walked a ways further down the hallway when he heard a loud clicking sound. He turned and saw the knob on the door turn slowly. A few moments later, the knob turned completely and the raptors pushed the door open. They had figured out how to open doors.

Tai, his heart racing, raised the tranquilizer gun and pulled the trigger only to discover that he was out of darts. "Uh-oh," he said, simply, and once again began to run for his life.

* * *

"Okay, according to the map Tai showed me," Sora was saying as she and Biyomon stood at a fork in the trail, "one of these leads to the generator building. Fly up a little ways and see if you can figure out which of these paths were supposed to take."

"Got it," said Biyomon, flapping her wings and flying above the trees. Sora, meanwhile, was busy keeping her eyes on the paths. She had her tranquilizer out and was more than ready to use it.

She was standing there, waiting for Biyomon to return when a brownish, striped dinosaur suddenly appeared from one of the paths. Sora leveled her gun at the dinosaur and took careful aim. The dinosaur didn't seem to be worried, or even aggressive. It simply stared at her with big, intelligent eyes.

The creature gave a screech suddenly, one which sent shivers down Sora's spine. She recognized it from the tape they'd found. She guessed, correctly, that this was one of the velociraptors that Wu had spoken of.

She aimed more carefully, knowing that if she missed it could mean her death. She was about to take the shot when she heard a snarl come from her left. She glanced over and saw the head of another one of the creatures a mere foot from her face. It had a mouthful of long, serrated teeth and they seemed to be barred in a cruel sort of grin.

_They **ambushed **me, _she thought, still rational despite her intense fear. _The first one was just a decoy._

The second velociraptor opened its jaws wide and prepared to clamp them down onto the hapless girl when it was suddenly blasted with a burst of green energy that knocked it, badly burned to the ground.

"Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed, seeing that it was her friend's Spiral Twister that had saved her. The first raptor screeched in anger at the small, pink bird, which gave Sora plenty of time to hit it with a tranquilizer. The raptor gave one small screech of frustration before it collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"It's the trail to the right," said Biyomon. "We've got to keep going in case these things have any more friends around."

Agumon awoke in the cramped employees lounge. He yawned and stretched and tried to pop the crick in his back. He looked around and noticed that Tai wasn't around.

"Tai?" Agumon called. "Yoo-hoo! Tai? Sora? Where are you guys?" He left the lounge and began to search. He sniffed the air in hope of smelling one of them, but the scent he picked up wasn't of his friends, it was of something else: food.

Agumon followed the smell around for a while and eventually he found a massive dinning hall. In its center was a huge wooden table loaded with all kinds of things to eat. There were hamburgers, chicken legs, bowls of fruit, a bowl of punch, and, to his delight, a massive, jiggling gelatin mold.

"I should tell the others about this!" he told himself. Then he heard his stomach rumble. "On second thought, maybe I should eat something first. No sense in not getting back to full strength now before I go searching."

That said, he leapt up on the table and began to eat everything within grabbing distance.

* * *

Tai ran down a flight of stairs, hearing the raptors not far off behind him. He leapt down the last half of the stairs when he saw a door to his right. He went in, slamming it shut and looked for some way to block it. He saw large filing cabinet and, without hesitation, pulled it to the floor with all his strength. With a loud bang the cabinet fell in front of the door. The raptors, who were desperately trying to open the door began to screech with frustration as they pushed on the door, but weren't able to get in.

Tai breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe for now. He turned and looked at the room he was now in.

All around him were computers. They stood on desks and all looked ready to operate, except for one thing: they were all off.

"Come on, Sora," Tai said anxiously. "Where's that power?"

* * *

Sora lit a flare in the otherwise pitch black generator building. The sudden light cast huge shadows over everything, making it seem even more eerie than before. Ignoring the urge to turn around and leave, she and Biyomon pressed on down a flight of stairs, searching for the generator.

They finally found it behind a fenced door at the back of the building. It was a large, green metal box. It had several lights on it, all of them off, and several small levers.

"How am I supposed to turn this thing on?" asked Sora.

"Maybe there's a set of instructions," Biyomon suggested. Sora searched and finally found a list of instructions printed on a panel nearby the main switch.

"Okay, it says here to pump the primer three times," she said. She found the primer and pushed it three times. "Then it says to flip the spark plug to the 'On' position." She looked around and finally found it at the top of the series of lights. She flipped it. "Finally, it says to pull down the main switch."

She put her hands on the large main switch and prepared to pull it down. "Keep your fingers crossed, Biyomon," she said, giving her a smile.

"I don't have any fingers, but I'll keep my feathers crossed anyway," Biyomon said helpfully.

Sora nodded and pulled the switch.

* * *

Tai was watching the raptors carefully through the observation window when the overhead lights suddenly came on. All around him, the motors inside each computer whirred to life and the monitor screens blinked on.

"She did it!" Tai said, ecstatic. "All right, Sora!"

At that moment, the raptors came crashing through the observation window. Tai, thinking quick while the raptors regrouped, looked for the fastest way to get out. He saw a ladder in the corner and quickly set it up, climbed it, and broke into the space above the ceiling. At the other end of the room was a heating duct.

Scrambling on hands and knees, he managed to get inside the duct and crawl through it. He was beginning to think he was safe.

Then he heard the echoed snarls coming from somewhere in the duct behind him.

* * *

"We did it, Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed, seeing the lights come on. "Everything's going to be all right!"

At that moment, a raptor's head burst through a barred grating at the left of the generator. Both Sora and Biyomon let out a scream as they ran for the exit. Fear drove them madly towards the door and when they reached it, they both slammed it closed behind them.

"How did that thing get in there?" asked Biyomon, catching her breath.

"It must have used the door, same as we did," Sora answered. Then a look of horror came across her face as she realized what that meant. "They can open doors. They can get in buildings."

Biyomon looked up at Sora. The girl's features hardened and she began to march back towards the visitors center, a look of determination on her face. "Come on. Tai and Agumon might need our help."

* * *

To Tai's dismay, the duct let out right over the main rotunda of the visitors center. Unfortunately, it meant he had to drop down onto the dinosaur skeleton displayed at the center of the great room. He did so and landed hard, rattling the exhibit. He climbed a little further down the dinosaur's spine in the hopes that he'd eventually get near enough to the ground to drop to safety.

About halfway down the spine, he heard two more loud thumps and felt the skeleton shake with the sudden impact. He looked behind him and saw the two raptors in hot pursuit.

"Tai!" called a voice suddenly. Tai looked down and saw Sora and Biyomon running through the main doors. "Keep away from those things!"

"Don't worry about me, I've got everything under control!" said Tai.

One of the raptors pounced forward and landed heavily next to Tai. It was growled and raised its claw, now that it was in striking distance.

Before the raptor could strike, however, great crash was heard as the large window at the far end of the rotunda suddenly smashed through by a t-rex. With a roar, the tyrannosaur rammed into the skeleton sinking its teeth into one of the raptors. The raptor gave a final, abrupt screech as the t-rex bit down.

Tai tumbled to the ground as the skeleton collapsed. The other raptor pounced onto the t-rex's neck, but the rex only dropped the body of the first raptor, reached around and grabbed the second, pulling it from its neck and then smashing it against the wall.

"Tai, are you all right?" Sora asked, trying to help him up. Tai winced, but he opened his eyes. He looked up and gave a startled cry of fear. Sora also looked up and saw that the t-rex had now turned its attention to them.

There was no time for Tai to get to his feet. He was on his back and Sora was on her knees to help him. Biyomon stood right next them and she too saw the rex coming toward them. The rex raised its head, opening its jaws wide and then came down, preparing to snatch them all up and swallow them as one.

The two children and the digimon all huddled together, gripping each other tightly, their eyes clenched shut as they awaited the final, terrible moment. The thing they expected to hear next was the sound of the tyrannosaur's jaws snapping shut around them. They did not expect to hear what they did at that moment:

_"Mega Claw!"_ shouted a voice.

Tai and Sora opened their eyes to see WarGraymon slashing at the t-rex's face, causing it to stagger back, giving a roar of pain and rage.

"WarGraymon! Finish it off while you still can!" Tai shouted to his fully-digivolved partner.

A massive ball of energy formed in WarGraymon's hands and he raised it above his head preparing to strike. "Terra force!" he attacked, sending the ball at the t-rex. The attack was so powerful that it blasted the enormous creature right out of the rotunda. Debris rained down as much of the rotunda was also damaged by the explosion.

WarGraymon landed next to the three of them, where he de-digivolved back into Agumon.

"Cozy?" Agumon asked playfully, seeing how tightly Tai and Sora were holding each other.

Tai and Sora both got up awkwardly and blushing slightly. Tai went over to congratulate his partner. "Great job, Agumon!" he said. "But how were you able to digivolve?"

"I found some food and when I went looking for you, I saw you and Sora were being attacked, so I warp-digivolved," he replied.

"Food?" asked Biyomon excitedly. "Where?"

"Let's just get home first," said Tai. "Then we can-"

"I've spent the past day running from things that thought I was food," said Biyomon, cutting him off. "Before we leave, I want to eat something and remind myself that I'm not at the bottom of the food chain!"

* * *

The four of them stood in front of the glowing computer screen. They'd all gotten something to eat and Tai and Sora had their digivices out.

"What if this doesn't work?" asked Sora.

Tai smiled. "Then you get to be Sora, Queen of the Dinosaurs," he said. "Plus, we get to eat that t-rex WarGraymon barbequed."

Sora laughed and made a face. Both in high spirits, yet also extremely nervous, the two of them touched their digivices to the screen.

**To be concluded…**


	7. Neither Here Nor There

**SCATTERED, Part 7**

**"Neither Here Nor There"**

"Well, Tentomon, that's everyone but us," said Izzy. The two of them were holed up in Dr. Kido's office ten years in the past. This was where Mini Apocalymon had sent them. Their friends had ended up in different worlds and been faced with their own challenges, but Izzy had managed to contact them all. If everyone got to a computer at some point in their world, then all of them could return home. If even one failed, they would all be trapped permanently.

"So, what do we do now?" Tentomon asked. Izzy turned off his computer and disconnected it from the phone line. Then he turned on the older, slower computer on Dr. Kido's desk.

"Joe's father has a computer of his own," said Izzy. "If we use my computer, then it will remain here in this world. I intend to use Dr. Kido's computer to transport us home and prevent my technologically advanced computer from being found in this time."

"Good thinking," said Tentomon. "Plus, if you had to go home without your computer you would probably suffer a nervous breakdown."

"Yeah, probably," said Izzy chuckling. He then took hold of Tentomon's claw and held up his digivice. He closed his eyes knowing that this was the moment of truth. Holding his breath, he put his digivice to the glowing monitor.

And in South Park, Colorado, Matt and TK put their digivices to Eric Cartman's mother's computer…

And in D'ni, Joe put his digivice to the screen of the link machine, knowing that whether it worked or not, he would be transported somewhere else…

And in the Land of Oz, Mimi and Kari put their digivices to the late Irritable Witch of the South's monitor…

And on an island off the coast of Costa Rica named Isla Nublar, also known as Jurassic Park, Tai and Sora put their digivices to the monitor of a newly restored computer…

And in those five separate worlds, all were engulfed in blinding, brilliant white light as a massive flow of energy took hold of them and sent them hurtling through time and space, bypassing the laws of physics and somehow finding their way back to the place that they came from.

* * *

In what was formerly Myotismon's dungeon, all sixteen of them materialized. Back in their bodies after their sudden transportation, they rubbed their eyes and caught their breath. Tai was the first to completely recover.

"Hey, it worked!" he exclaimed. "Way to go, Izzy!"

"Glad I could help out," said Izzy, also catching his breath. "But the truth is the plan wouldn't have worked unless everyone did their part in each of the worlds they were in. Everyone deserves credit."

"Hey, speaking of which," said Mimi, "where did everyone go?"

"Matt and I went to America," said TK, "and I got to go to an American public school and Matt stopped Barbara Streisand from destroying a small town! Wasn't that cool, Matt?"

"No," said Matt.

"You wouldn't believe it, Tai," said Kari. "Mimi and I were in a place with tiny people and witches and flying monkeys!"

"Flying monkeys?" Tai asked, laughing.

"Uh-huh," Mimi said. "And that witch sure had a lot of warlock porn on her computer!"

"Mimi wouldn't let me see the green guys hugging," Kari added innocently, not noticing the disturbed look on Tai's face.

"How about you and Tai, Sora?" asked Mimi.

"We were on an island with a bunch of dinosaurs that were trying to eat us," said Sora. "But Tai and I managed to get past them and turn on the computers we needed to get home. Isn't that right, Tai?… Tai?"

When she got no response, she looked around and saw Tai sneaking up behind Matt. Before Matt could do anything, Tai snatched the magazine he was carrying in his back pocket.

"Tai! NO!" Matt yelled, his face turning bright red as Tai ran off with the magazine. "Give that back!"

"Come on, Matt!" Tai said, laughing as he dodged him. "I was just going to see what kind of- whoa!"

"What is it, Tai?" asked Izzy, walking over. Then he saw the woman in the picture that Tai was looking at with wide, staring eyes. Then he too began to stare.

"Wow, Matt," said Tai quietly. "Your world had some great magazines."

Matt, sighing, looked over Tai's shoulder and joined him and Izzy in their ogling. "That one kind of looks like Mimi, doesn't she?" Matt commented.

"She is a remarkable facsimile," said Izzy, a small grin appearing on his face.

"Uh-huh," agreed Tai, a glazed look coming into his eyes.

"Hey, what are you guys reading?" asked Mimi.

"NOTHING!" they all said, giving it back to Matt, who shoved it roughly back into his back pocket.

"Hey, guess what I did in my world," said Joe, drawing stares from everyone. "I saved the entire universe from the corruptive influence of an evil man who wielded the power to twist worlds with godlike impunity!"

All of them looked at him for a moment in silence. Then Tai turned to Kari and said, "So, flying monkeys, eh?" and everyone went about their own individual conversations.

"Oh, great," said Joe, deflated. "I finally have a cool heroic story and no one believes me."

"Hey, I'm sure they believe you, Joe," said Gomamon. "They just don't care."

"Thanks," said Joe sarcastically. "Thanks a lot."

"Well, at least _I _care," said Gomamon helpfully.

Joe smiled. "Well, then it wasn't a total waste of time," he said, picking up his digimon and joining the others. "What about you, Izzy?"

Izzy turned quiet then and looked away in contemplation. "I'll tell you later," he said finally.

"Well, looks like we're all here and everything's going to fine!" said Tai.

"Wrong!" shouted a voice. "You little meddlers are no safer now than you were on those distant worlds! You cannot defeat me! Your fates are sealed!"

"Mini Apocalymon!" cried Izzy, realizing that the mutant digimon was still there.

"Yeah, did you forget about me, you little chatroom chimp?" asked an angered Mini Apocalymon as he emerged from the shadows of the corner. "You probably didn't notice that I was trying to get your attention since you got here," he added, looking wounded.

"So, you're still here," said Tai. "Too bad there's still nothing you can do to us. We can handle anything you throw at us!" The others gathered behind him in support.

"Don't flatter yourselves!" laughed the dark, cube-dwelling rookie. "You are as insignificant as ticks crawling on the leathery knees of a card-carrying Shriner!"

"Eww!" said Mimi.

"Yeah, I hate ticks, too, Mimi," said Kari.

"No, I meant the Shriners," said Mimi. "All those old guys in fezes and driving those weird little cars… it's creepy!"

"Silence!" bellowed Mini Apocalymon. "Jeez, don't you brats know not to interrupt someone in the middle of a tirade!"

"Enough talk, shrimpy!" said Tai. "Come on, guys, let's finish him off!"

As the digimon rushed him, Mini Apocalymon smiled. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

The sides of his cube slid open and eight metallic claws snaked out. They were remarkably similar to those he had at his mega level. Once revealed, the seven rookies and one champion froze, temporarily thrown off by their appearance.

_"Block Digivolve!"_ attacked Mini Apocalymon, and the claws reached out and clutched the eight digimon tightly. Then, after a brief moment of being held, the claws withdrew. Too their surprise, all of them seemed unscathed and still in the same forms.

"What happened?" asked Sora.

"Yeah, wasn't that supposed to make them de-digivolve?" asked Joe.

"That was my 'Reverse Digivolve' attack that I had as a mega," explained Mini Apocalymon, "but obviously you didn't hear me when I said _'Block Digivolve,'_ did you, you dim-witted, larval-infested chunks of carion!"

All looked to Izzy.

"He called us dead meat, basically," Izzy said.

"Correct, you red-headed, uh… son of a... blue-collar laborer!" said Mini Apocalymon, running low on menacing insults.

"Hey, that's hitting below the belt!" said Izzy.

"In any case," he went on, ignoring Izzy's protests, "your digimon cannot digivolve from their present forms for at least ten minutes! And that's more time than you've got left to live! Cower in fear, you weakilings!"

"Logically, you're a weakling too, being at your rookie level," Izzy retorted.

Mini Apocalymon fumed. He was sick of listening to this little snot and it was time to silence him. _"Petite Darkness!"_ he attacked.

A small, black burst of energy flew from hi hand and collided with Izzy, sending him reeling as he fell motionless to the ground.

"Oh my God!" screamed TK. "He killed Izzy! You bastard!"

"I'm not dead," groaned Izzy. "I'm just in a lot of pain."

"There's more where that came from, geek-boy," said Mini Apocalymon as the Digidestined went to help Izzy to his feet. "You're in too much pain too move and after I defeat all of you, your discomfort will only get worse."

"Oh yeah?" retorted Tai. "Well, we've still got you outnumbered! Go get him, guys!"

The digimon attacked, letting loose with their best attacks.

_"Super Shocker!"_ attacked Tentomon, most eager since his Digidestined was the one currently down. Mini Apocalymon flew more swiftly than any of them would have though possible and dodged the attack easily.

One of his claws morphed into a strangely familiar silhouette. _"Blue Blaster!"_ attacked Mini Apocalymon, using Gabumon's attack to blast Tentomon out of the air and sending him, disabled, to the ground.

"He can mimic our attacks?" exclaimed Gabumon. "Well, there's still nothing like the original. _Blue Blaster!_"

_"Boom Bubble!"_

_"Pepper Breath!"_

All of these attacks were dodged skillfully and countered with attacks from other Rookie level digimon. The remaining digimon tried their best, but Palmon, Patamon, and Biyomon were overcome rapidly, leaving only Gatomon behind.

"You're a small demon digimon," said Gatomon, smiling. "Unless I miss my guess, that puts me at an advantage."

"Here, kitty-kitty," taunted Mini Apocalymon.

The agile Gatomon was able to dodge his attacks and pounced forward to counter attack.

_"Lightning Paw!"_ she yelled, slashing him across the face.

Mini Apocalymon floated back, grunting in pain, but he then raised his hand and once again fired a small beam of black energy at Gatomon in retaliation. _"Petit Darkness!"_ he cried, as the attack hit its mark.

Gatomon let out a cry as the attack tossed her back several feet.

"Nice moves, dog food," laughed Mini Apocalymon, "but now you join your companions in defeat!"

"Gatomon, are you all right?" asked Kari. Indeed, all the Digidestined went to their digimon to check on them. Mini Apocalymon watched all this with amusement and began to laugh cruelly.

"How could he beat us?" asked Tai, bewildered.

"Because, my goggled young friend," explained Mini Apocalymon between guffaws, "in addition to being one of the strongest rookie level digimon in existence, I used strategy. If I weren't about to kill you all, I'd suggest that you use some next time! Had your partners digivolved, perhaps they would have stood a chance. As it is, once this machine warms back up, I'm going to send you all to another dimension. And this time I'll pick something myself. Something _nasty_."

Mini Apocalymon threw his head back and laughed. He knew nothing could stand in his way. He could finally finish off the now defenseless children. Not only that, but the thought of them being destroyed by a _rookie _was too ironic to bear.

As he laughed, however, his words on strategy suddenly reached one of them. And in his eight-year-old mind, TK formed a very simple plan: attack while he's still laughing.

Before Matt or anyone else could stop him, TK charged at the cackling Mini Apocalymon. When he was close enough, he leapt up at him headfirst. His momentum carried him like a cannonball into the oblivious digimon and he head-butted him back into the controls for the pedestal.

"Oof!" grunted the surprised Mini Apocalymon.

"Respect my authoritai!" yelled TK.

"TK, no!" cried Matt.

"You should listen to your brother, you wretched little worm," said Mini Apocalymon. Using his metal claws he picked up TK by the torso and with another he grabbed him by the head. "Now, I'm going to take that head of yours and mount it on my wall!"

TK closed his eyes and the rest of the digidestined all screamed in horrified protest. Then, the machinery that Mini Apocalymon smashed into moments earlier began to crackle with electricity and a puff of smoke was emitted. This was followed by a beam of white energy that suddenly shot from the pedestal directly into Mini Apocalymon. He dropped TK as he began to howl in pain.

"What is going on?" he asked in fear and confusion. "I feel like I'm being torn apart! I can't keep myself together! I can't-"

With a bang and a flash of light, Mini Apocalymon exploded out in a cloud of sparkling energy. When the smoke and light cleared, there was nothing left of the once great digimon.

"What happened?" asked Joe.

Izzy, still recovering from his own injury, stumbled over to the pedestal's main computer and began to investigate. A moment later, he had an explanation.

"It appears that when TK knocked him into the machinery, there was damage to the mechanism and a power surge ensued," said Izzy.

"You mean, too much power went to the pedestal thing?" asked Tai.

"Correct," said Izzy. "It caused the machine to randomly fire a transport beam in a direction and it happened to hit Mini Apocalymon, but since the machine had no designated area to transport to, it simply scattered his molecules at random throughout time and space. It essentially tore him apart, not limb from limb, but atom from atom!"

"Wow, how convenient," marveled Joe. "That he would be in the exact right place at the exact right time and be defeated by such bizarre consequences. It's like the ending of a really badly written movie, or short story, or fanfi- _ow_!"

Joe was suddenly interrupted from his ranting as a piece of the ceiling just _happened_ to fall on his head.

"So, looks like everything's okay!" said Tai. "Nice going, TK!"

"Yeah, that was great," said Kari.

"Thanks, Kari," said TK. "Say, maybe some time after school you can come to my house and, uh, study!"

"Huh?" asked Kari. "Study for what?"

Matt lightly booted his brother. "Leave your pick up lines in Colorado, bro."

"I hate to rain on everyone's parade," said Izzy. "But there's one other problem."

"What's that?" asked Mimi.

"I'm afraid the machine has been damaged to a certain degree," he said. "I can reverse the process that brought us here, but it can only transport us back to the Digital World or Earth and nowhere else. Also, when we transport, it will create a kind of warp that will turn back the clock. We won't remember any of this."

"You mean… we have to say goodbye again?" asked Mimi.

"I'm afraid so," he replied.

The whole group was in a state of sorrow, but also of acceptance. And many of them were comforted by the thought that, if they were reunited once, they would be reunited again.

* * *

Izzy, along with Tentomon, was working on the pedestal, making sure it would work. When he was finished, he pressed a few buttons and two circles of light appeared in the center of the room. They were stood vertically, like doors, or portals.

"The one on this side of the room leads back to Earth," said Izzy, gesturing towards it. "And the other will lead back to the Digital World. Now, I couldn't get an exact fix on when the digimon were taken, but I believe that they will arrive one hour after they left, although I'm not positive how close they will be to their original positions. As for the humans, we'll arrive the very same second we departed and in the same spot. In both cases, however, we will remember nothing."

The others nodded solemnly and all waited to see who would go first. As the leader, Tai decided to take the initiative. He gave Sora's hand a squeeze as the two exchanged glances. Then he walked with Agumon to their portals and they turned to each other.

"Well, looks like another battle's over," said Tai.

"Yeah, next time we'll have to have one we can remember!" said Agumon. The two of them laughed as they entered the portals.

Next came Kari.

"Are you getting one of those funny feelings like we'll see each other again?" asked Gatomon.

"Yeah," said Kari, grinning. "I am."

"Then I'll see you later, Kari," said Gatomon, returning her smile. And they transported.

"I'm getting sick of all this jumping from world to world," said Joe to Gomamon as they stepped up. "But, it was worth it seeing you again, buddy."

"Yeah, don't get all mushy on me," said Gomamon, cracking a smile. "Just take care of yourself and try not to get nauseous on the trip home!" Chuckling, they entered the portals.

"I'm going to miss you, Biyomon," said Sora. "I'm just sorry I won't be able to remember the time we spent together."

"Yeah, but, on the plus side, you'll be going back to a place where digimon aren't trying to kill you or dinosaurs are trying to make you an appetizer," replied Biyomon, choking up. "And anyway, I'll see you again real soon." The two transported.

"Do you think that those kids in South Park will remember us?" TK asked Patamon.

"Yes, but the only thing that matters to me is that you don't forget about me, even if you do forget about this one time," answered Patamon. The two exchanged knowing glances and transported.

"I wonder if I'll still be able to warp digivolve," said Palmon as she and Mimi approached.

"It doesn't matter to me," said Mimi, holding back tears. "I'm just glad we get to say a real goodbye this time, even if we don't remember it. It still counts, doesn't it?"

"Sure it does," said Palmon. And the two embraced briefly before transporting themselves.

"Matt, do you truly believe that we'll meet up again?" asked Gabumon.

"After dodging hunters, mad scientists, and fighting a giant Barbara Streisand, I believe anything's possible," Matt said. The two of them shook hands, or paws in Gabumon's case, and they also transported.

That left Izzy and Tentomon, who'd monitored the transports of each of them.

"Well, that's about it," said Izzy.

"I'm very sorry, Izzy," said Tentomon.

"What for?" Izzy asked.

"You got to meet your biological parents and did some truly incredible things and now you get it all erased! How can you stand it without breaking down?"

"Don't worry," said Izzy. "Even if I don't remember it, it did still happen, after all."

"Well, it was good to see you again, Izzy," said Tentomon.

"You too, pal," said Izzy, hugging him tightly. "You go ahead, I'll monitor things to make sure it's all right."

Tentomon complied and transported out. Izzy sighed, now alone in the dark room.

Izzy typed a few commands into the pedestal and the portal leading to Earth shifted slightly. There was something Izzy hadn't told them, not even Tentomon. The pedestal may have been set to transport them all home and they had no choice about when or where to go, but the part about their memories being erased was not the machine's doing. It was his.

Izzy knew how dangerous the knowledge of the machine was, how easily it could be used to tamper with reality if anyone found out about it, as Mini Apocalymon had. Even if it meant losing their newfound experiences, the sacrifice had to be made to make sure that none of them had knowledge of the pedestal's power.

Even so, he was only human. He had gone back and met his real parents and said the things he'd always wanted to say to them. Even if it meant that he alone would be entrusted with the knowledge of the pedestal, he wasn't about to give up the new memories he had.

So, with an almost mischievous grin, he teleported, knowing that only he would know what had happened, and the others, including Tentomon, would remember nothing.

* * *

"Centaurumon, do you have one of those drain snake things," Gennai asked his friend over the phone, back in the Digiworld. "No? Well, can you recommend a good Plumbermon? I've got two digimon stuck down the toilet and I can't find anyone else to help me get them out… No, I don't know how they fit, and I don't care, I just want them out!"

Suddenly, the toilet began to make a weird gurgling sound.

"What the…" Gennai asked, puzzled. "Let me call you back, Centaurumon. Something's happening... Right, right, I'll let you know as soon as I get a new prophesy, don't worry about it!... Yeah, I- what? ... uh, sure, I love you too. Bye."

Gennai hung up the phone and walked over to the toilet and peered inside. He had no idea why it was making those sounds, but it seemed to be getting louder.

Without warning, the toilet suddenly exploded, sending a stream of water in the air and fragments of porcelain on the floor. Also, to Gennai's surprise, eight digimon suddenly shot up from the hole in the floor and toppled onto him.

"What happened?" asked Palmon.

"All I remember was calling for Gennai, because Patamon flushed himself!" said Gabumon.

"Did not!" protested Patamon.

"I don't know why you were all down the toilet," said Gennai, at the bottom of the pile, "but I do know one thing: anyone who wants to eat dinner tonight is going to clean this bathroom up until their arms fall off!"

Tentomon looked at his four arms and felt he was getting a raw deal.

* * *

The eight Digidestined sat in a circle, exactly as before, in the middle of the park. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the birds sang as children laughed somewhere nearby.

"Uh, anyone remember why we're here?" asked Tai.

"Haven't the foggiest," said Izzy with a smile as he got up. "So let's go."

The others seemed confused but they all got up as well.

"I can't wait to read those new magazines I got today!" said Mimi, patting her purse as she walked away.

Izzy chuckled, remembering the little something Matt had stuffed into Mimi's purse before they left. He would've liked to see Mimi's reaction when she found it, but he had something more important to do first.

* * *

Matt and TK were at their father's house. Matt was making TK some dinner he sat in the living room watching TV.

"Matt, this stuff is hilarious!" said TK.

"What did you say, TK?" Matt called from the kitchen.

"I said these cartoons kick ass!"

"TK! Where did you learn to talk like that?" Matt demanded, sticking his head out of the kitchen door.

"I... I don't know..." TK said, trying to remember.

* * *

"Sora! Hey Sora!"

Sora looked over her shoulder and saw Tai catching up with her.

"Hey, Tai, what is it?" she asked.

"I sent Kari home by herself, since it's such a short walk to our apartment," Tai said. "How about if I walk you home?"

"Okay, why not?" said Sora. They were about to walk a little bit further when she felt Tai's hand casually take hold of her own. Startled, she yanked it back suddenly.

Tai and Sora looked at each other for a moment with a look of shock as both took on red faces. Then, ignoring the moment, they continued walking in silence, their hands at rest at their sides.

"Tai?" asked Sora, carefully. "What made do that?"

Tai was quiet as he thought about it. "I... don't know," he answered.

* * *

Izzy returned home to find his parents waiting for him. His father had taken the day off and the two were fixing dinner in the kitchen.

"Izzy, you're late," said his mother. "What happened?"

Izzy responded by walking over to her and hugging her around her waist. His father came near and Izzy caught him in the embrace as well. For a moment, he just stood there, hugging the two of them. Then, after a full minute of this, he let them go and went to his room, never speaking a single word.

"What was that all about?" asked his father.

His mother smiled. "I... don't know..."

* * *

Mimi was in her room and she set her bag down on the bed next to her. She took out the latest magazines she'd bought that afternoon, naming them as she went.

"Let's see," she said. "Here's the fashion one, the cooking one, the travel one, and... what's this?"

She lifted the last magazine, which she didn't recognize and looked like it was printed in English. Since she spoke English, she read the title out loud, not recognizing it: "Penthouse."

She opened it up and faced the pictures inside.

"Oh, gross!" she said, making a face. "Eww! Who would publish something so disgusting and-"

She paused, studying one of the pictures carefully. "Hey," she said, a smile appearing on her face, "this one looks like me!"

**THE END**


	8. SCATTERED Author's Notes & Commentary

"**SCATTERED"**

**Author's Notes & Commentary**

If you're a first-time reader, I hope you've enjoyed this. If you're a returning reader, welcome back!

Recently, I've been going back to my older work to revisit, revise, and maybe even add to my old works. This story, first published in the year 2000 and last updated in February of '01, was only my 2nd foray into the world of fanfiction. I've written six in all, and this is one of the more popular ones. Not bad for a sophomore effort!

**Inspiration**

At the same time that I was working on my first fanfic, "Resurrection" (another Digimon story), I was also working on a novel. I did eventually complete that book, but there's a reason you've never heard of it: it was a huge piece of crap.

However, its importance as far as fanfiction was concerned was that I recognized my own lack of skills in writing. I had difficulties with shifts in tone, with dialogue, and working with a given genre, and so I thought I would practice those skills in fanfiction before bringing it to my "real" work. The result was a piece of experimental writing that tried to blend several different ideas into one cohesive whole: "SCATTERED."

I began by taking the characters from Digimon, all wholly developed, and tried to imagine how they would react if placed into situations that were wildly different from their original universe. The main advantage of fanfiction, after all, is that you're working with other people's characters and your audience has an idea of what to expect. In other words, give the reader something old, but with a fresh spin. The easiest way to do that was to use crossovers. With that in mind, I established two overarching principles for the story:

1. The characters from "Digimon" will act in character to their new environments

2. The new universes will maintain their original characteristics.

I mostly held to these ideas, though the "Oz" chapter, in retrospect, doesn't really strike me as very "Oz-y." L. Frank Baum would be pissed, but I'll get to that part of the story later.

Choosing the right universes was another step. I needed to choose ones that would be recognizable, but also ones that felt like they presented genuine obstacles to kids with magical transforming monsters. The obvious crossover that everyone back in the day was doing was with "Pokemon," but let's be honest: the shows share the suffix "-mon" in their names, and that's pretty much where the similarities end. Every Digimon/Pokemon crossover I've ever seen is horribly unbalanced: digimon are just plain stronger than pokemon. I also considered doing Dragonball, but the same problem came up: super saiyans are way stronger than digimon.

In addition to balancing the challenges the worlds would present with the strength of the digimon, I realized that I needed to choose worlds that had distinct tones. To make the story work, I needed to write each world in a way that felt true. This allowed me to explore different genres and tones in a way that seemed natural. By simply letting the world be itself and the characters be themselves, the story could evolve naturally.

A common critique of the story is that it has a weak frame story. It's a fair criticism and I'll address that, but for now, I'll explain each of the main sections of the story.

**Izzy's Tale: "Angst"**

The 'net is lousy with fanfiction that is nothing but the characters being emo. What made the original "Digimon" series (and a few of the later seasons) good was the ability to explore the characters' emotions through very difficult situations and having their emotional well-being tie in to their success in battle. By embracing their true natures and becoming better people, they triumph. It was angsty, even corny, but it was done right.

Originally, I thought about having Izzy do a crossover, but it seemed better to just let him act in the role he always does: moving the plot along with technobabble. His story needed to be short and serve as a useful transition between the frame story and the crossovers, which meant that it needed to tie in to the others. Still, the idea was to experiment with different writing styles, and that meant there still needed to be some sort of conflict, some kind of story worth telling. I had already settled on the worlds for the others, and felt that they would be fun and interesting, but they lacked drama and emotional depth. So, I decided poor Izzy would need to suffer, and the most painful part of his backstory is the death of his biological family.

After settling on that, the story came together without much trouble. Reviewers seemed to genuinely sympathize with Izzy's terrible dilemma, and while in retrospect I now find it a bit cloying, it is still a fairly emotional and dark part of the story that helped me learn to write such scenes better in the future. The main problem is that, when you break it down, the story is a lot of emotion and not much substance. Though it was relevant to the plot in the end, the story can be summed up as "Izzy can't change his past, and then later he figures out how to get everyone back." These two events aren't very well connected, so ultimately it falls into the same category of a lot of angsty fanfiction: there is angst, and there is plot, but they are almost incidental.

In short, I failed to follow the same model as the original series. Oops.

Still, I decided not to try and mess with the story and leave that disconnection alone while revising the chapter. I added some formatting, changed some words and punctuation, but it's pretty much the same as it was a decade ago. It's a good reminder of what NOT to do in the future, and, since the idea was to learn something from writing the story, I can still technically call it a success.

**Matt & TK's Tale: "Satire"**

And here we come to one of the two favorite chapters. Everyone seems to like this one, and I have to admit it was a lot of fun writing it.

The idea for doing a Digimon/South Park crossover came from offhandedly noticing that the kids in South Park were 8 years old, and so was TK. I chuckled to myself thinking how ridiculous it would be to have TK hanging around with Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman and the story more or less went from there.

There's not really a lot to say about this chapter. "New Kids in Town" is basically the idea that the South Park universe is crude and really messed up and there are really only two ways to react to it: by butting your head against it, like Matt does; or just shrugging your shoulders and going along with it, which is what happens to TK. This is why everyone besides TK is eager to leave while TK is slowly "corrupted" by his new friends. This was meant to be something of a satirical comment on the idea that TV corrupts fragile minds (an idea that would get explored _ad nauseum_ in the South Park movie). It was also meant to satirize how serious Digimon sometimes takes itself as a show, which is why Matt, Gabumon, and Patamon suffer one indignity after another as they try to play by their old rules in a universe that just doesn't give a damn.

There's a general rule in comedy that the more serious the butt of a joke takes himself, the funnier the punchline is. That's probably why people like this chapter the best and why I have yet to top myself for a joke funnier than **"And this is what Gabumon would look like with four asses."**

I have to admit, I was afraid the foul language and adult situations thrown in with a kid's cartoon would get a bad response. Then again, nobody commented on the joke about Gatomon never liking to be petted, which tells me people either didn't get it or didn't think it was funny. Either way, I'm surprised nobody ever commented on it, considering it's the dirtiest joke in there. Still, I'm glad people mostly got the jokes and got what I was going for in this chapter. It allowed me to try to be a bit more adult in some of my later work as I tried to do crude humor without it becoming totally unsavory, although the running gag of one of the Penthouse models looking like Mimi got me a bit of flack at the end. But what the heck, I still think it's pretty funny.

For revisions, I actually stopped censoring myself and "unbleeped" a few swear words and even added a few more jokes. I also felt I wrote Butters' cameo appearance a bit out of character, so I updated that as well. Other than those changes and a few grammar changes, it's mostly the same.

**Joe's Tale: "Fantasy/Mystery"**

The "Myst" games are some of my absolute favorite games of all time. I fondly recall playing the original Myst and Riven games with my father and I really wanted to do something based in that world. The problem was that it wasn't one of those things that I thought most people would know about, and unlike the other stories, it drew a lot from the expanded universe found in the novels and other lore, not the original games. Joe was the perfect guy for a Myst crossover, since he's a bit of a bookworm and typically not the action hero type, so it made sense for him to be in a more cerebral environment.

The thing about the Myst series is that it's about minute details and puzzles, and I tried to incorporate both concepts into this chapter. It required a lot more description and world building and that left Joe in a position to do some sleuthing to undo the mistakes he made as a stranger to the world. It's in his character to take responsibility for things, especially things he feels he's done wrong.

The tricky thing was to balance the amount of world building and explanation with actual story, because while this chapter follows a slower pace, I wanted it to still move quickly enough and be interesting enough to hold the reader's attention. Not everyone likes Myst and I wanted there to be a worthwhile story for those who chose to read this chapter nonetheless.

Still, this chapter required a lot of cleanup. The big problem was that the original chapter took place in Tomahna, but that's the name of Atrus's private residence, while his people, the D'ni, reside in the age of Releeshahn. This was a mistake I made from reading _The Book of D'ni_, a novel based on the Myst series, but later Myst games made things much more clear and gave me a better idea of how to depict the age. It also contains a now outdated device: the Trap Book. Myst IV would rewrite that part of the story, but it means whole parts of the original series don't make sense without them, so I generally ignore that. Still, it's really something to think that 3 more Myst sequels and an MMO have come out since I wrote this story and there were only two games in the series. (For the record, the Myst MMO is free to play and open source. Look up _Uru: Myst Online_ and you should be able to find it. Bring a friend to join you, it's got a bit of a learning curve, but a real experience to play nonetheless with some challenging puzzles and gorgeous music.)

Another problem was with the original climax where Joe battles Gehn in his machine. Originally, I described it as having eight hydraulic legs and looking like a spider. One reviewer commented that I must have seen the movie "Wild Wild West" before writing the chapter. In truth, I hadn't, but after seeing the movie and seeing how widely mocked the idea was (Kevin Smith sheds some light on its origin in his speech/movie "An Evening With Kevin Smith," for the record), I realized it was impossible _not_ to draw that conclusion and it had to be revised.

So, there you go: no more giant robot spider. It has four legs. Think one of the Weapons from Final Fantasy if you must draw a comparison.

**Mimi & Kari's Tale: "Crack Fic"**

As I said, originally the plan was to preserve the feel of each world and have the characters from "Digimon" react to their environments.

This is the chapter where I pretty much said "Screw it!" and tried to write as many dumb gags as I could. In the revision process, I actually took time to throw in a few more gags where I felt one was lacking. So, yeah, I made this dumb chapter _even dumber_.

I initially chose "The Wizard of Oz" because I thought it would be a neat "girly" chapter that would let Mimi and Kari, y'know, be… girls. The problem with having a chapter set in a movie musical universe was that it wouldn't feel the same without songs, and text just sort of fails when it comes to adding music. To make up for it, I made Mimi's drug-induced fantasy an Aerosmith song and made fun of the Yellow Brick Road song. Doesn't really cut the mustard, I know, but it did the trick and I thought it was funny.

That brings me to the common criticism of the chapter: it's stupid.

It's pretty much pointless, yes, but after realizing that I wasn't going to get a very "Oz" type of story out of it, I just settled on being as goofy as I could and that worked out fine.

Still, I did actually think of adding parody songs, so here's some bonus content: I initially thought of adding songs like "If I Only Had a Brain," and of course it would be at Mimi's expense. While I never added one, here's what I had in mind in the planning stage:

(To the tune of "If I Only Had a Brain")

MIMI

_Life is sad, believe me, Kari_

_When you have to say you're sorry_

_For causing others pain._

_If I knew much more than fashion_

_I'd avoid some good tongue-lashings_

_If I only had a brain!_

_I would rid myself of vices_

_And stop breaking devices_

_That drive Izzy insane._

KARI

_You could wear the thickest glasses_

_Not be a huge pain in our asses_

_If you only had a brain!_

And so on. I also came up with one for Kari, but I tried to think of what she was lacking and, well since she's 8…

KARI

_Life is rough, believe me, Mimi_

_Whenever others see me_

_And think that I'm a n00b._

_Disrespect I'd get from no man,_

_Not a girl, I'd be a woman_

_If I only had some boobs!_

But yeah, after one verse I figured that was just one shade of wrong too much. I also felt it was a bit too cruel: Mimi isn't exactly bright, but she often gets pigeonholed into being the token dumb character. She's pretty dense in this story too, but I could only go so far for a gag. Likewise for Kari; she's 8, and that's probably too young to care if you have tatas. Neither song made it into the final chapter and if you don't think these samples are that funny, well, neither do I. Consider this a peek at the kind of thing that ends up on the cutting room floor, so to speak.

One final thing I did change was I let the Irritable Witch of the South live. Originally, Rosemon killed her, but after everything I put her through, each indignity and stupid joke, not to mention she's fighting two of the least violence-inclined characters in the show, it seemed too harsh to kill her off. So, instead, she calls it quits and lets the girls keep the shoes.

Who says I'm not a nice guy? :)

**Tai and Sora's Tale: "Adventure/Romance"**

I knew from the start I wanted to have Tai and Sora in the same universe. I just like the two of them together. They're fun to watch when they get along well or when they bicker, so I thought I'd put them in an extreme situation to let them react off of each other. Since I knew it would be the last crossover in the story, I wanted it to be a big one that would be recognizable by just about everyone, and Jurassic Park was not only one of my favorite movies, it was a well-known blockbuster that pretty much everyone I knew had seen.

After I chose the universe, though, I had second thoughts. "Wait a minute," I said, "why would I put them in a universe where dinosaurs are trying to kill them? How is that much different from their regular universe? Hell, Agumon and his forms pretty much _are_ dinosaurs!"

Then I realized that, with the exception of the very early episodes, Digimon was mostly a superhero show whereas Jurassic Park was about survival. The dinosaurs on the island weren't interested in banter or conquest, they were interested in lunch. Eventually, this was reflected in the dialogue. As Sora says:

_"I keep thinking that these dinosaurs are almost worse than the evil digimon we've fought before," she said. "I mean, I know they're not evil, they're just trying to survive, like we are, but that makes them even more dangerous in some ways. With enemies like the Dark Masters, it was always a presented battle. They usually came around bragging or challenging us, or tried to toy with us first. That usually gave us time to think, time to strategize, to put up a decent fight. These creatures aren't giving us any warning or taunts or playing any games. They're just trying to eat us."_

By keeping the digimon hungry and the humans on constant alert in an abandoned and broken Jurassic Park, I think I managed to create an environment that was genuinely threatening and qualitatively different from the original show. No society, no games, just chaos, looking for food, and surviving. A return to base instincts and stripping away the thin veneer of society.

That's when I realized that this would probably result in our two young protagonists' hormones going into overdrive and their inhibitions not being quite up to their usual levels. In other words, there was an ideal chance to practice writing some romance.

This was the first time I ever tried to write it, so I had to decide how far I wanted to go with it. I've talked about writing romance in other works, like my popular Tai/Sora romance story "Behind Your Eyes," so I'll be brief here about my feelings on the subject. When it comes to young characters, I find myself taken out of a story if things are overly gushy or emotional or, even worse, physical. Tai and Sora are _eleven._ I wanted it to be sweet, inexperienced and endearing, but still make it more serious than a simple case of puppy love. I threw both characters in harm's way, having both Tai and Sora come very close to dying and letting them deal with their mortality by tossing their caution to the wind and being honest about their feelings. Additionally, I figured the adrenaline rushes would make them… er, _friskier._

So, there's some perviness on Tai's part as he gets Agumon to sneak a peek at Sora's underthings, but there is also admittance of their worry about each other and expressing their desires to stick by each other in a strange world should they be unable to return home.

I'm really proud of the chapter. It has some of the best raw emotion, sex, innocence, violence, and some really great hero moments from every character. It was very important to me that nobody was completely helpless. Too many action/romance stories make a character a hapless damsel (or male equivalent, occasionally) that needs to be rescued. But Tai and Sora are both very smart, very brave, and fairly athletic, so it would have felt artificial to, for example, have Sora needing constant protection from Tai when she is perfectly capable of handling herself. People seem to appreciate that, so I can be happy that I achieved my overall goals for this story. It feels balanced and I think the pacing turned out well. Feedback on this chapter made it a favorite after the South Park chapter and I'm very grateful to all the reviewers who gave such positive feedback. I felt really bolstered by its success and decided later on to give a shot at writing a full-length romantic story. The result was "Behind Your Eyes," and if you enjoy Tai/Sora shipping, you'd probably enjoy it.

For changes in the revised edition, I added formatting to the story, tightened a small portion of some of the dialogue, cut out some of the cheesiness (more from the narrative voice than from the original dialogue that mostly turned out well), and I added some extra romance to the scene with Sora and Tai in the tree. Nothing extreme, but the original scene went by a little too quickly, so I slowed down the pace, added some more description, and I think the updated scene is a more realistic and touching moment. I hope you find it enjoyable.

**The End: Why it Kinda Sucks**

Like I said initially, "SCATTERED" was meant as an experiment. The main point was to practice writing different elements, tones, etc. The frame story is primarily there to put the characters into wacky crossovers.

The problem is that while the introduction could be silly and serve as an excuse to the story, after all the things the characters went through, the finale was pretty anticlimactic. It's the most common criticism of the story, and I knew it was true when I was writing it. That's why Joe makes wisecracks about the flimsiness of the plot and how easily MiniApocalymon is defeated. Once all the crossovers were finished, I was pretty much out of steam and just wanted to end the story. Instead of putting a lot of effort into it, I just tried to wrap it up and go with a good old-fashioned status quo reset.

So, for those of you who hate the ending… I'm sorry, but it still sucks. I just wanted to end on a laugh and that was good enough for me at the time.

However, while doing this update, I did think about how I might improve the ending. While I think changing the ending as it stands would be too big of a change over the original (and I told myself I'd let the basic plots of the story stay the same because I want to remember why I made those decisions), I have been considering adding a new bonus chapter to this story as an "alternate" ending. If you'd like to see that sort of thing, leave a review asking for one, and if I get at least a few, I'll oblige.

Well, this concludes these author's notes. I hope it was insightful and you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed re-reading and revising it. Don't forget to leave a review, and feel free to subscribe or add me to author alerts for future updates!

_-Thinker, January 2012_


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